RAIL commuters face New Year price hikes as some train fares in Oxfordshire rise by more than nine per cent.

As of yesterday, the price of an anytime day return ticket from Oxford to London went up to £51 from £46.70 – an increase of 9.21 per cent.

And the cost of an annual season ticket has risen from £3,880 to £4,104 – up 5.77 per cent.

Derek Potter, from the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, which represents passengers on the Oxford-Worcester Rail route, said: “Ultimately, we have to decide whether taxpayers or rail users have to pay, and common sense says it should be a mixture of both.”

The Government allows rail companies to raise their average prices by one per cent above inflation, as part of their pegging system. The RPI in July 2010 was 4.8 per cent.

The national average price increase across the country is 6.2 per cent, with some mainline season tickets going up by as much as 13 per cent.

Sue Evans, spokesman for First Great Western, said: “The off-peak return increases by £1.50 to £21.50 as we want to continue to encourage customers, whether on business or for leisure, to travel by train to and from Oxford.

“Customers can travel on the 9.01am train in the morning from Oxford to London using an off-peak return ticket, arriving in London just after 10am.

“This compares favourably with travelling by car, and paying the congestion charge and car parking.”