Rail season ticket sales on the rise as employees return to the workplace
The number of employees regularly commuting to the workplace continues to rise, with a number of train operators in public ownership reporting a rise in the number of season tickets sold.
Train operators offer a range of season tickets, including annual, monthly and weekly as well as flexi - which allow travel on a set number of days in a defined period.
Among the publicly-owned train operators, LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express have seen an overall 10% rise year-on-year in season ticket sales.
Northern says around 175,000 journeys a week on their network are now made using season tickets and sales of those offering the longest duration (annual and monthly) represent the biggest increase of an average of 14%.
TransPennine Express, which has been in public ownership since May 2023, says it has an average of 46,138 journeys on season tickets every week.
Their biggest growth has been in flexi season tickets, which allow people to travel on any eight days in a 28-day period. Demand for those has jumped a massive 81% in the last 12 months (57,640 journeys) compared to the 12 months prior to that (31,784 journeys).
LNER saw 630,491 season ticket journeys in the year ending March 2025, with the most popular season ticket type being ‘annual’, which made up 236,518 of those journeys.
Alex Hornby, customer and commercial director at Northern, said: “Travel patterns were completely upended by the pandemic and we’ve been through several ‘new normals’ since then.
“To meet the ‘new normal’, operators have needed to transform ticket offerings to provide customers with more choice and greater flexibility, enticing them back into the office.
“The steady growth of season ticket sales this past year is a clear demonstration that it is working, with employees steadily coming back.
“We constantly review data on passenger journeys to ensure we meet demand and we offer a range of tickets to help everyone looking to save money on their commute.”
Other train operators in public ownership have seen a rise in the number of regular commuters.
Southeastern say 64% of commuters using ‘The Key’ smartcard are now travelling into the workplace, on average, four days a week, up 4% on last year.
Meanwhile, c2c has seen a robust resurgence in commuter travel following the launch of pay as you go (PAYG) with contactless ticketing across their entire line in February 2025.
They have seen passengers opt for the flexibility of off-peak daily tickets, reflecting the shift in working patterns. Mondays and Fridays continue to grow year-on-year, with in-peak journeys across the week growing at around 5% in 2024/25.
The new PAYG system simplifies customer journeys and offers a more seamless way to travel, with the result being over 60,000 additional contactless taps each week.
Greater Anglia, who are the latest operator to move into public ownership, has also seen a rise in commuting in the last 12 months, with over 12.8 million journeys using season tickets made over the 2024-25 financial year.
Positive trends were seen in both flexible season tickets (allowing 8 days travel in a 28 day period), up 16.5%, and in the sales of longer period season tickets, such as monthly seasons, up 5.2%, and annual seasons, up 11.1%.
With the roll out of contactless ticketing to more Greater Anglia stations also due in the near future, the prospects for further growth are bright, with housing growth on the network and the return of increased office working in London reinforcing the likelihood of ongoing increases in commuter travel across the area it covers.