Rail tickets bought in Bristol on the day of travel are up to five times more expensive than those which are pre-booked, research has shown.

A survey carried out by the Campaign For Better Transport (CFBT) that the price in Bristol of a turn-up-and-go ticket was 4.72 times dearer than one bought in advance. The level is roughly the same as the national average for the comparison, which is 4.69 for 11 of the biggest cities in the country.

The CFBT said it was vital that the price of fares bought on the day of travel was pitched at reasonable levels. Its report, timed to highlight the first anniversary of the Government's rail White Paper, compared the cost of walk-up fares and advance-booked fares for single journeys between the largest cities in each region in England plus the largest cities in Wales and Scotland. Journeys from Newcastle upon Tyne were 5.33 times more expensive for walk-on fares than for advance bookings, while fares from London were 5.1 times dearer and those from Cardiff 5.04 times more expensive.

Bristol came seventh overall in the table. It was below Leeds, Norwich and Glasgow but above Birmingham, Southampton, Nottingham and Manchester.

Campaign for Better Transport public transport campaigner Cat Hobbs said: "The Government's solution to high rail fares is to offer advance fares. But we can't always predict the future and so need a walk-on railway. At a time when people are facing increases in petrol prices, the Government is planning to make the green alternative, rail, even more expensive. The Government needs to invest more in the rail network so that people can just turn up at a station and go."

The research was carried out last month, obtaining fares using the National Rail website. Walk-on fares were chosen for same-day, off-peak, single journeys using the cheapest ticket of the two options provided. Advance fares were bought by examining the price of advance tickets available for an off-peak single journey four weeks in the future.

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