Home Business The cap on bus fares will rise to £3 across England under a new budget plan

The cap on bus fares will rise to £3 across England under a new budget plan

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The bus fare cap in England will increase to £3, up from £2, as announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. The new cap will take effect until the end of 2025, impacting millions of bus users.

The fare cap for buses in England is expected to rise to £3, following an announcement by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The new cap, which will be introduced in the upcoming Budget, marks an increase on the current £2 cap introduced by the previous Conservative government as a cost-of-living measure.

The £2 limit was originally due to expire at the end of December, prompting speculation that passengers would face a sharp rise in fares if the limit was not extended. Sir Keir confirmed that the £3 limit would cover most bus journeys across England and would remain in place until the end of 2025. He emphasized the importance of affordable bus travel, especially in rural communities where many people rely on buses for their daily commute.

Around 3.4 million people across England use buses regularly. Concerns had been raised that removing the existing cap could lead to a significant increase in rates, undoing support over the past two years.

Despite the national increase, bus fares in London and Greater Manchester will remain unchanged, capped at £1.75 and £2 respectively, as these areas have separate funding schemes through Transport for London and the local authorities.

The Confederation of Passenger Transport welcomed the decision to extend the cap, saying the increase from £2 to £3 avoids a “cliff edge” scenario for passengers who could have faced steep fare increases at the end of the year. However, they acknowledged that the new cap would still pose challenges for those who rely heavily on buses as their main mode of affordable travel.

Before the announcement, Bill Hiron, chairman of Eastern Transport Holdings, which operates bus services in Essex, warned that removing the £2 limit would have caused problems. Returning to previous fare levels of £5 or £7 could have caused hardship for many and put people off using buses at all, he said in an interview on the BBC Today programme.

Environmental group Greenpeace criticized the decision to increase the limit, describing it as a “difficult decision” that the government did not have to make. Paul Morozzo, senior transport campaigner at Greenpeace UK, argued that raising the fare cap was counterproductive from a political, economic and environmental perspective.

“Buses are a critical lifeline for millions of people, especially those with lower incomes,” Morozzo said. “A government that truly prioritizes the needs of the poorest in society would reconsider this decision at the first opportunity.”

The new bus fare cap will come into effect early next year, with the aim of maintaining affordability while addressing operators’ concerns about the sustainability of the £2 limit. However, campaigners and passengers will be watching closely how the new prices will affect public transport use across England.


Jamie Young

Jamie is a seasoned business journalist and Senior Reporter at Business Matters, with over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting. Jamie has a degree in business administration and regularly attends industry conferences and workshops to stay at the forefront of emerging trends. When Jamie isn’t reporting on the latest business developments, he is passionate about mentoring emerging journalists and entrepreneurs, sharing their wealth of knowledge to inspire the next generation of business leaders.

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