SouthEastern Commuter? Do you drive?

Medway Motorists and bus users and SouthEastern rail commuters face a transport tripple whammy next week when petrol tax rises add nearly £2 to filling a tank, and inflation-busting fare increases confirm the rail network as the priciest in Europe with commuters from Medway suffering the full Conservative Party sting to fare increases

The Tory sting in the tail begins in earnest as commuters on trains wake up to find the same old service but at extortionate cost. Conservative MPs and Councillors have failed to reign in Tory rail increases in what is seen as a slap in the face to commuters, despite claiming to fight for commuters at a Council meeting in November.

Tory Councillors are simply ineffective and continue to support a government which is about to launch the biggest tax on commuters and drivers since Thatchers VAT rise.

To fan the flames, Arriva busses in Medway will continue to charge over-extortionate fares to travel because Conservative Councillors have failed to scrutinise the operator over the last decade. We have poor service and expensive bus fares.

UK Motorists already spend £10m more a day on petrol than a year ago, according to the AA, but the railways will offer little relief. Rail fares increase by an average of 6.2% from Sunday but some season tickets on busy routes will go up far more. The £5,000 season ticket is a growing phenomenon, with Southeastern charging £5,192 for journeys from Hastings and Tonbridge to London that connect to its high-speed service – a 12.7% rise on last year.

The Campaign for Better Transport will be establishing a campaign next week which will be supported by local residents. The Tory government, and their Council supporters, have pushed onto Kent commuters rises of nearly 13% and warned of people being priced off the trains. This despite election promises and campaigns deliberately targeted at train commuters prior to the General Election.

The Conservatives have treated train commuters as cynical mugs, and they have casually taken the votes of this group for granted. Despite all the usual mutterings and minor complaints, the fares will continues to go up as many MPs travel to work on first class subsidised train tickets.

A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said said above-inflation fare rises were the result of government policy which has "sought to sustain investment in the railways by reducing the amount that taxpayers contribute and requiring passengers to pay more".

But CBT said it was unfair that millions of commuters already facing pay cuts and reduced hours in their jobs were now having to pay more to get to work.

It also said higher fares were pricing people off the rail network, risking increased road congestion in the nation's cities.

The fare rises meant some travellers were being asked to pay 20% of the average UK salary for their annual season ticket

This was the equivalent, in percentage terms, of transport secretary Philip Hammond MP being asked to pay £27,034 for a season ticket, campaigners added.

Railfuture, a campaign group, warns that higher fares will force passengers on to the roads, where motorists already face a costly start to 2011, regardless of a global oil price that reached two-year highs recently. The AA has said that an increase in fuel duty of 0.76p a litre todaytomorrow, allied with a 2.5% VAT rise days later, will add around 3.5p per litre to the price of fuel. That equates to an extra £1.75 on the cost of filling a tank.

However, the rail user watchdog believes that the vast majority of commuters will not take to the roads as an alternative. Anthony Smith, chief executive of the watchdog Passenger Focus, said cars were not a valid alternative to train for commuters: "In London and the south-east people don't have any choice."

The rail network's dominance by passengers in south-east England, and by the comparatively well-off, has triggered debate over whether the huge investment in the network neglects the rest of the UK. Seven out of 10 rail journeys start or end in the capital. More than 10% of Londoners use the train at least three times a week, compared with less than 5% elsewhere.

The RAC Foundation, a motoring thinktank, claims that the annual £5bn subsidy of the rail network disproportionately benefits Londoners and the well-off, with 40% of households earning more than £50,000 a year using the railways at least three times a week – double the figure for those on less than £25,000 per year.

By 2014, the farepayer is expected to foot three-quarters of the cost of operating the network. Currently, rail users pay £6bn a year into the railways, which are also funded by up to £5bn in grants and more than £20bn in state-backed debt.

So much for vote blue, go green!