Rail fares · DfT

Rail fares

Frozen for the first time in thirty years, in three nations at once, and all of it expires around March 2027.

Regulated rail fare rise in England, 2026
0%

Frozen from 2 March 2026, the first freeze in 30 years. Would have been 5.8% under the usual formula.

Change
Frozen, saving £600m a year

Source: DfT

Share of fares regulated
45%
The rest are operator set
Most railcards
£35
A third off, pays back fast
Disabled Persons Railcard
£20
Cheapest, and valid any time
London bus single
£1.75
Until 1 November 2026

Below: what is changing, what you could be paying, and what you might be owed. The longer detail stays folded until you want it.

What you might be owedHelp that routinely goes unclaimed

What you might be owed

Routinely unclaimed. We do not administer any of these and take nothing for pointing at them.

Disabled Persons Railcard

A third off for you and an adult companion, valid any time. £20 a year or £54 for three.

You receive certain disability benefits, are registered visually impaired or deaf, have epilepsy, or buy or lease a vehicle through a disability scheme.

16-17 Saver

Half price travel including season tickets

16 and 17 year olds in England and Wales. Half off is far better than the third off most cards give.

Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card

Half off selected fares, and half off flexi seasons

Issued through Jobcentre Plus if you are unemployed and claiming certain benefits. Ask, because it is not offered automatically.

What you need to knowThe things that stop the figure being misread

What you need to know

The things that stop the headline figure being misread.

  • The freeze covers standard class season tickets, anytime and off peak fares in England. It does not cover first class, premium standard or advance fares.
  • Regulated fares are about 45% of all fares, concentrated on commuter routes where people have no practical alternative.
  • Scotland abolished peak fares on ScotRail permanently on 1 September 2025, then froze all fares for 12 months in February 2026.
  • Wales froze every Transport for Wales fare from 1 March 2026, regulated and unregulated alike.
  • The Office of Rail and Road measured all Great Britain fares as unchanged over the year to March 2026 while RPI rose 4.1%.
  • A flexi season gives you any 8 days of travel in 28, at a minimum 20% discount on a monthly season, and you must activate each day before boarding.
  • From 1 April 2026 you can only claim a refund on an unused ticket bought before you travelled, an anti fraud measure the DfT expects to save about £40m a year.
  • Contactless pay as you go now reaches about 103 stations, with 20 Greater Anglia stations including Stansted added in summer 2026.
What is changing, and whenDated, not forecast

What is changing, and when

Already dated. Nothing here is a forecast.

68days 2 November 2026 · Rail

London bus and tram single rises 10p to £1.85 and the daily cap 30p to £5.55, ending the freeze that has held since March 2023.

187days 1 March 2027 · Rail

The England regulated fare freeze ends. No decision has been published on what replaces it, so nobody knows the 2027 figure yet.

The full published figuresCheck our working

The full published figures, for anyone who wants to check our working or find their own line.

Railcards, and the catch on each

A third off means most railcards pay for themselves in two or three journeys. The minimum fare rules are where people get caught out.

Scroll sideways to see every column

Railcard1 year3 yearsDiscountThe catch
16-25£35£80A third off£12 minimum fare on weekday journeys starting between 04:30 and 09:59. No minimum in July and August or on public holidays.
26-30£35Not offeredA third offDigital only.
16-17 Saver£35Not offeredHalf offEngland and Wales only, but it covers season tickets too.
Two Together£35Not offeredA third offBoth named people must travel together. After 09:30 on weekdays.
Family and Friends£35£80A third off adults, 60% off childrenUp to 4 adults and 4 children.
Senior, 60 and over£35£80A third offNot valid in the morning peak within the Network Railcard area.
Network£35Not offeredA third offLondon and the South East only. £13 minimum weekday fare.
Veterans£35£80A third offCovers the holder plus one adult and up to four children.
Disabled Persons£20£54A third offValid any time, any day, and covers an adult companion. The most generous card and the cheapest.

Delay Repay, roughly

This is NOT standardised. National Rail is explicit that each operator sets its own threshold and the Conditions of Travel set only a minimum. The table below is the common Delay Repay 15 structure, verified against Southern. Check your own operator.

Scroll sideways to see every column

DelaySingle or returnSeason ticket
15 to 29 minutesAt least 25% of the fare25% of the single journey value
30 to 59 minutesAt least 50% of the fare50% of the single journey value
60 to 119 minutes100% of a single, or at least 50% of a return100% of the single journey value
120 minutes or more100% of the total fare100% of the return journey cost

Transport for London, from 1 March 2026

Average rise of 3.2%. Caps and Travelcards are frozen until March 2027 to mirror national policy, but the bus fare freeze ends sooner.

Scroll sideways to see every column

FarePriceNote
Bus or tram single£1.75Frozen since March 2023. Rises to £1.85 on 2 November 2026.
Bus and tram daily cap£5.25Rises to £5.55 on 2 November 2026.
Tube peak single, one zone including zone 1£3.10Up from £2.90
Tube off peak single, one zone including zone 1£3.00Up from £2.80
Daily pay as you go cap, zones 1 to 2£8.90Frozen
7 day Travelcard, zones 1 to 2£44.70Frozen
Recent changesWhat moved, and when

Recent changes

The whole log →
2 Mar 26Relief
RailDfT Link

Regulated rail fares frozen for the first time in thirty years

Regulated fares in England were held at 0% from 2 March 2026 rather than rising 5.8% under the usual formula, which the Department for Transport says saves passengers £600m a year across more than a billion journeys. The freeze covers standard class season, anytime and off peak tickets and runs until March 2027. Scotland froze ScotRail fares for twelve months in February and Wales froze every Transport for Wales fare from 1 March.

Almost every rail figure on this site expires around March 2027, and the London bus fares expire sooner, on 1 November 2026.

Source: DfT

Where this comes from, and where it could be wrongEvery source, and the limits

Known limits of this page

No decision has been published on what happens to regulated fares after the freeze ends in March 2027. We will not print a 2027 figure, and neither should anyone else.

Delay Repay thresholds are not standardised. The table here is the common structure verified against one operator. We could not obtain the statutory minimum in the National Rail Conditions of Travel.

Minimum fare rules are confirmed only for the 16-25, Senior and Network railcards. The others may have restrictions we could not verify.

The Railways Bill had not received Royal Assent at the time of writing, so no Great British Railways launch date is shown.

Sources

30 price changes logged. Every one had a date you could have known in advance.

Tell us which bills you care about and we will email you when one of them changes, with the figure, the date it starts and a link to the regulator that set it. Free, no account, one click to stop.

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Ranked on costNever on what a link pays us
SourcedEvery figure links to the body that set it