Commuter numbers climb as train season ticket sales rise across Yorkshire
The daily commute is making a return as new figures reveal the number of train season tickets being sold is on the rise.
Among the publicly-owned train operators, LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express have seen an overall 10 per cent 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 per cent.
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 81 per cent 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.”