Commuters have welcomed a minor rise in fares for the coming year - but called for better value for money from Great Eastern Railway.

Season ticket holders travelling to Liverpool Street face an increase of 0.8 per cent from next month.

The figure is well below the rate of inflation, meaning a cut in real terms in the cost of commuting, according to Great Eastern.

Theo Steel, sales and marketing director for the company, said it was the second year running that ticket price increases had been capped.

"It means once again we are increasing by less than the rate of inflation bringing the cost of commuting down," he said.

But John Smock, chairman of the Walton, Frinton, Kirby Cross and Thorpe Rail Users' Association, said that while they were pleased with a smaller increase they were still far from happy with the overall service.

"The rise is set by the rail regulator and governed by such things as performance," he said.

"A figure of 0.8 per cent may seem small but we still feel that we are not getting value for money when compared to commuters elsewhere."

And he added, all things considered, travellers could expect fares to be held or even go down in real terms.

Mr Smock travels from Walton and said the price of a season ticket was in excess of £3,600.

"That is a lot of money especially when you consider that Great Eastern's main line is working to capacity, we lost trains to other areas last year, there is only one train per hour in off-peak and the latest train we can catch is 10pm," he said.

And he felt there needed to be greater investment in the service all round.

Great Eastern has also announced that for travellers who do not travel in the London area there will be no increases, while some leisure tickets for journeys to London - such as cheap day returns - will rise by 1.5 per cent.

Travelcards are controlled by London Transport and higher prices will be applied on these fares.

The new fares come in from January 9 and commuters can beat the increase if season tickets are ordered and bought before January 8.

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