Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has accused trade unions of driving the 3.1% increase in rail fares. Mr Grayling told the BBC that the unions had demanded "higher pay rises than anyone else" and threatened strikes if they did not get them.
Rail fares have increased by an average of almost 3% in Scotland and 3.1% in England and Wales.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called the increase a "disgrace" and said it "drives people away from public transport".
Mr Grayling told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The reality is the fare increases are higher than they should be because the unions demand - with threats of national rail strikes if they don't get them - higher pay rises than anybody else."
Mick Cash, general secretary of RMT, accused Mr Grayling of trying to blame rail workers for problems "caused by privatisation of the railways".
He announced that a new railcard extending child fares to 16 and 17-year-olds in full-time education or training will be available by September.
Whereas the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as part of his four-year TfL fares freeze has confirmed that Transport for London fares (TfL) will not rise at all next year.
This will help Londoners and visitors by ensuring travelling by bus or tram ticket in London next year costs not a penny more than it did in 2016. Pay as you go journeys on the Tube, DLR, Emirates Air Line and rail services where TfL fares apply are all also frozen, as well as the cost of hiring a Santander Cycles bike.
By 2020, Sadiq’s TfL fares freeze will have saved the average London household around £200. This is in addition to the Mayor’s ‘Hopper’ bus fare that has now saved money on over 240 million bus journeys since it launched in September 2016.
Sadiq Khan took to twitter and tweeted in response to this increase- "I've frozen all fares under my control for three years running. The Government and private rail companies should do the same."
