The price of season tickets for train passengers in Lichfield is set to drop after regular disruption and delays.
West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern services have confirmed they will cut weekly, monthly and annual tickets by 3%.
The figure means the 2.8% yearly rise due to take effect from 2nd January will not hit passengers in the pocket.
The new comes after a number of services have been hit by delays and disruption since the introduction of a new timetable in May.
Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, managing director of West Midlands Trains, which operates the services of both London Northwestern and West Midlands Railway, said:
“In recognition of the poor performance, this compensation package for our regular customers when they renew their season tickets will offset the national fares rise.
“We have said for some time now that performance and timekeeping since the May 2019 timetable has not been good enough.
“The timetable added too much complexity which means that even minor delays transmit through the network.
“Some changes were made in the December 2019 timetable change to remove the complexity, and to add capacity, but the most significant changes to reintroduce simplicity will be implemented in the May 2020 timetable.
“I apologise again to customers for the poor performance and cancellations since May.
“As well as the timetable simplification in May, 2020 will also see the arrival of the first of our new trains.”
Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, managing director of West Midlands Trains
The company said a summer ticket promotion would also benefit passengers who don’t hold season passes.
The announcements come after pressure built on the company to improve the standard of services around the Midlands.
Midlands Mayor Andy Street said the company should be stripped of local routes if things didn’t improve, while West Midlands Police Commissioner David Jamieson said local rail services were becoming “a danger to public safety”.
