The Mayor of London has announced on Thursday (November 12) that National Rail services in the capital will be free for children.
Children under 11 years old will be able to benefit from the free travel, after announcing that Transport for London will provide £500,000 a year to the Train Operating Companies for the system.
Boris Johnson also announced a 1% fare increase on TfL services in London. Single bus fares and all but two pay as you go single Tube fares will be frozen however.
According to the London Mayor, the changes to fares are expected to raise £43m a year for TfL, an increase of 1%, looking to cover its operating costs.
Hundreds of thousands of families will reportedly benefit from the under 11s free rail transport in the capital.
Currently youngsters under the age of 11 travel for free on TfL's buses and trams and on the Tube, DLR, London Overground and TfL Rail services when accompanied by an adult.
Currently however, there is no similar offer on National Rail services in London.
From January 2, all National Rail services in London will be free for Zip photocard holders who are under 11 years old after TfL agreed to cover the cost.
'Hundreds of thousands of families will benefit'
Boris Johnson said: “I’m delighted that we’re able to yet again freeze overall fares in real terms for our passengers.
“It’s the third year in a row that we’ve been able to offer this great deal, allowing us to keep the cost of travel down while continuing our vital programme to modernise the network.
“Hundreds of thousands of families will also benefit now that we’ve struck a deal to extend free travel for under 11s across all rail services in London.
“By securing this deal on National Rail services, we are taking away the fares confusion for so many and opening up wider travel in the capital for families to enjoy.”
According to TfL, the 2016 fares package includes:
- The pay as you go single bus fare is frozen at £1.50 while the one day bus cap increases by 10p to £4.50, the same as the cost of three single fares, with the overall increase in bus fares at 0.8%.
- On the Tube, London Overground, the DLR and TfL Rail, pay as you go single fares in Zones 1-6 are frozen, with the exception of Zone 1 only and Zone 1-2 off-peak fares, which will increase from £2.30 to £2.40., with an increase of 1.1%
- All other current concessionary fare schemes will be maintained in their current forms.
- The all day caps, which were reduced last year to 20% of the 7 Day Travelcard price in Zones 1-6, will increase by 10p.
- The Off-Peak Zones 1-6 Travelcard and the Anytime Zones 1-4 Travelcard will increase from £12 to £12.10 while the Anytime Zones 1 to 6 Travelcard will increase from £17 to £17.20.
- Travelcard season ticket prices increase by just under 1% on average.
- On the Emirates Air Line, the single fare for adult pay as you go users and Travelcard holders is increased by 10p to £3.50. All other Emirates Air Line fares - including child fares and cash fares - are frozen.
TfL confirmed that the new fares will come into effect from January 2 and customers will be able to buy tickets, including season tickets, at 2015 prices until January 1 2016.
