Could someone explain to me what exactly are "regulated fares"? Is it anything that you can't get Advance tickets for?
e.g. I'll need some Off Peak Singles Lancaster to Morecambe and back two days later, for middle of March. Been putting off buying them as there's no advantage and my plans might change, but I'm not sure whether they might be subject to an increase?
It varies by route, station pair and operator, but from an old post on this I saved:
'
• For short-distance journeys, usually it's the Anytime Day Return that is regulated.
• For medium-distance journeys that have both day returns as well as period returns (i.e. valid for return within a month), the Anytime Day Return and Off-Peak Return are typically regulated.
• For long-distance journeys that don't have day returns, usually it's the Off-Peak Return that is regulated.
For some operators (e.g. GWR, EMR and LNER for journeys to/from London and the southeast) it's the Super Off-Peak rather than Off-Peak Return that is regulated. In essence it's whichever fare is deemed the successor to what was the Saver Return in 2003 - before the fares "simplification" exercise conducted in 2008. In a handful of cases (usually long-distance journeys priced by regional operators such as Northern) this is instead an Anytime Return or Anytime Short Distance Return.
The cost of weekly (and longer) season tickets is usually also regulated, where they exist. And in the London Zones, Oyster/contactless PAYG peak fares are regulated instead of single or return paper/smartcard tickets.'
www.london.gov.uk
