Bus price cap in England [now extended to Dec 2024]

annedonnelly

Hi,

Does anyone know of an update on the bus fare price cap for the first three months of next year? I can't find anything online since the announcement in September.

My local operator is Arriva and I can't see anything on their website about whether they're taking part in the scheme.

Thanks

martindow

Bus companies had to choose whether to opt in or not.  There are various articles on line from September when the scheme was first announced, suggesting that companies considering it wanted more details.  Maybe amidst government chaos this has not been provided or they have decided that the money on offer was not sufficient to cover the loss in revenue.  None of the companies near me have announced their participation.

annedonnelly

Thanks @martindow I won't plan lots of cheap bus trips for January then.

martindow

Googling this most of the references to £2 fares are from September when it was 'announced'.  I am sure that if a bus company were offering these fares they would be telling us all about it.

martindow

And if I had googled today ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-your-money-64021415

Maybe it's worth checking your local bus company's site to see if there's an update.

MSE_James

The Mirror has a list of participating operators:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/millions-2-bus-fares-three-28762283 

Keep a look out for more on this from MSE a bit nearer 1 January.

MikeJXE

It's on Skynews website and it starts 1st January £2 fare and i believe 130 bus companies have joined

cheshirelabrador

martindow said:

Googling this most of the references to £2 fares are from September when it was 'announced'.  I am sure that if a bus company were offering these fares they would be telling us all about it.

There were already schemes to introduce price caps in some Metropolitan areas to bring them in line with London. For example, the £2 price cap in Greater Manchester was agreed and announced before the government announcement of a nationwide scheme.

MSE_James

The official Government page with the operator list is here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/2-bus-fare-cap 

The list shows bus companies' legal names rather than the public-facing names which is a little confusing.

I notice that the operator of a rural bus service in Kent my family relies on isn't listed - I have read elsewhere that such operators may well be participating, but don't show up on the Government list because the service is operated under contract to the county council and the reimbursement from central Government will go via the council.

unforeseen

 in some rural areas it will save more than £3 off a £5 single.

Assuming that you actually have a service in the first place

MilesT6060842

It would be interesting to plot out where the participating companies are overlapping/adjoining (or are overlapping/adjoining London, or some rail branch lines for trip extension), especially to help with strike days or longer leisure trips.  Would be easier if the service areas were shown on a map.

For example, Universitybus/Uno overlap/adjoin TfL in North London (113 overlaps Uno routes). Good for a day trip to Hatfield house, for example.

And I think Sanders, First, and Konnectbus all overlap in North Norfolk, and Konnectbus would nicely extend Greater Anglia Gainsborough Line to Sudbury for a day trip to Lavenham (for the Harry Potter fan) and Long Melford (2 historic houses and some antique shops), and of course Sudbury itself (Gainsborough House, 2 x silk mill shops).

The scheme will make "PlusBus" rail ticket addons a bit less useful, if you only need 1-2 buses rather than all day travel