Commuters using public transport face a bleak start to 2006 with rail and travelcard fares all rising - some four times the rate of inflation.

Passenger transport authority Metro says the cost of some travelcards will rise by 11 per cent and Northern Rail has announced ticket price hikes.

All Metrocard prices are increasing by at least nine per cent from January 2, depending on the type of pass bought.

And the news is no better for motorists. A Lidget Green man's Bradford postcode was blamed when he saw his car insurance rise a massive 260 per cent, from £485 last year to a whopping £1,251.

Bernard Kearns said he was shocked at the new rate.

From January, countywide bus tickets bought weekly will cost £15.50, £1.50 more than at present, and an annual pass will be £572, £47 more. A weekly pass covering countywide bus travel and rail zones one to three - travel between Bradford and Leeds - will cost £17.50, a rise of £1.60, and an annual pass will go up £52, to £632.

A weekly Metrocard which can be used on all buses and in rail zones one to four - travel between Leeds and Halifax - will rise £2.20, to £20.50. An annual pass for the same area will increase £63 to £770.

Metrocard is administered by Metro but all proceeds go to the private bus and train operators who set the prices.

A spokesman for Metro said a rise in fuel costs was partly to blame but added: "Metro has negotiated with the Department for Transport to use part of the increase for rail passengers to improve services in West Yorkshire.

Meanwhile Northern Rail fares will increase by 3.9 per cent. The rise follows a fare increase of 4.1 per cent in 2005 set by Arriva Trains Northern - the previous operator - last year.

The company, which operates services out of Bradford Interchange and Bradford Forster Square, says the rise is in line with Department for Transport guidelines allowing for an increase just above the rate of inflation.

A Northern Rail spokesman claimed it too was investing in the network: "The continued development of a sustainable passenger rail service across the north of England is essential."

Khadim Hussain, operations director at Bradford bus operator First Bus, said decisions on single fares increases were still pending.

Commuter Mark Yeadon, 20, a nursery nurse at Rainbow House Nursery in Odsal, uses buses every day to get to work. He said the bus service was erratic.

"Sometimes they are early, sometimes they are late. I use the Smartcard to pay for my fares which makes it cheaper to travel anyway."

Pensioner Gladys Green, of Hatfield Road, said: "I use the buses every day to go all over. So if my fare was to increase I might have to think about my journeys more."

But Rick Smith, 37, of West Lane in Thornton, said: "The fares seem quite reasonable to me. I tend to use buses around three or four times a month and I think the service is OK."

Brian Dootson, 46, from Buttershaw, added: "I use the buses every day to get to work and normally the service is pretty good. I think the suggested rise is reasonable."

All the new fares come in to force on January 2.

A National Audit Office and Audit Commission report revealed on Friday fewer people were using buses in all English regions apart from London.

The spending watchdogs said numbers fell by an average 7 per cent in regions apart from the capital in 2004-5.

National targets are unlikely to be met in 2011, and in 2010 they will only be met because of London, they said.

Metro chairman Karam Hussain said: "The Department for Transport set itself the target of 12 per cent growth in bus and light rail passenger numbers which in this report, the National Audit Office says it will only achieve because of the rise in bus passenger numbers in London.

"Were it not for the inclusion of the London statistics, where Transport for London contracts with operators to provide bus services, the DfT would not meet its target, which clearly reflects the two-tier system which operates in England.

"In contrast with the regulated framework in London, throughout the rest of the country where passenger numbers are falling, services are unregulated and passengers are at the mercy of a commercial free-for-all, dominated, as the report points out, by five companies which control two thirds of the market.

"In the report the National Audit Office calls upon organisations such as Metro and local councils to work more closely with bus operators to encourage passenger growth.

He added: "Where Metro has been able to form innovative partnerships with the bus operators, such as the introduction of award-winning guided busways in Leeds and Bradford, passenger numbers have risen significantly.

"But in other areas, where the operators provide services they consider profitable and rely on £21 million of Metro funding each year for those they don't think are commercially viable, such as late night or early morning services and services to rural communities, there is no growth."