Bus Fares Rise
Bus fares rose across England from 1 January as the government raised the nationwide cap for individual journeys from £2 to £3. However, a system of subsidies awarded by East Sussex County Council to operating company Stagecoach has meant that many ‘short-hop’ fares within the county have been capped at £1, at least until the end of March. Fares for ‘medium length’ journeys have been held at £2, whilst only ‘long-distance travel’ will cost the maximum £3. Child single tickets will begin at 50p per journey.
These fare changes follow the announcement in November by the Department for Transport (DfT) of grants totalling £150 million spread across all regions of England to continue to support bus transport.
Looking longer term, the DfT introduced into Parliament last month a Bus Services Bill. Its provisions were described by Local Transport Minister Simon Lightfoot as aiming to “hand power back to local authorities to choose how they want to run their local buses, giving them greater control over fares, routes and timetables”. Somewhat at odds with this, his boss, (the then) Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, explained that the aim was “to end the postcode lottery of bus services”. That suggests that any choices which councils make will be required to conform to a nationwide standard.
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