MP Highlights Impact Of Train Fares Changes On Kingston Area

12.58.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 1st May 2007

Richmond Park MP Susan Kramer has raised the increased costs to local rail travellers in the House of Commons.

Responding to a recent debate on the Transport Committee's report on rail fares she said:

"We are being told that the train companies are helping us by creating a clearer pricing structure for tickets.

" Yet simplicity sometimes becomes a cover for increasing fares.

"In my constituency South West Trains has changed to a zonal system. For someone travelling to central London from Kingston, virtually every fare went up 35 per cent in 2007, and fares to most other stations have gone up on the grounds that the new system provides simplicity."

Susan Kramer also raised the issue of overcrowding during the debate saying that ticket pricing was clouding the issue of capacity on trains.