Good in principle but as always thise living near boundaries end up hainvg tp pay more (e.g. I can't use the South Yorkshire mult-modal Connect+ ticket as I'm 3 miles into Notts.
Speaking as a pensioner myself, I would quite happily pay say £1 per journey if it meant more funding available for improving services.
Indeed, there is no perfect solution but perhaps a zonal system would overcome some of these issues, eg a 10 mile zone measured from a town or city centre? How that would work in a large conurbation like West Yorkshire with lots of town centres could be confusing so maybe it would have to be an authority area based system in 'PTE' areas which is what some have now. TfL routes ignore boundaries by charging one fare even when they go outside Greater London and Bee network routes seem to do the same according to the website.
I am sure some people think the Government give the bus operator the full difference between the cap and the actual fare.
In the Shire counties, £3 has already become the default cash fare - often for both Adults and Children.
That is just too complicated to administer and fairly re-imburse the bus operators.
I don't think that you'll get any of that until Government (local or central) takes the risk on revenue (and service levels). Which may well come, of course, or it may be found to be too expensive......
Not in Bucks. Carousel charge lower fares for local journeys, indeed the Chesham circular 78/79 has a flat fare of £1.50. Having said that they do push a flat £3 single through their app.
Just on the walking point, I do think public transport should cater for people who can't walk, even if they don't qualify for e.g. disability benefits or senior bus passes.
On the whole, demographic and lifestyle changes have done for patronage on rural services; a fare cap isn't going to reverse this. Even the pensioner market is disappearing, as supermarkets continue to depart town centres for other locations more difficult to serve by bus, while others switch to online shopping and have it delivered to their door.
Indeed, some do more local shopping.... Especially if they are just a short walk away. .Maybe the whole thing has seen the demise of many a City Centre.
You do get one or two which do think it is a flat fare of £3 so when you say it's £2.60 for example they are a bit surprised.
www.prestonbus.co.uk
£3.50 flat single fare in Preston, is that a cap?Preston Bus will stop participating in the £3 fare cap in the new year
Preston Bus – Fare Revisions from 1st January 2026 | Preston Bus
How do you think that idea would go down the Bee Network grand plan of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, where the fare cap is only £2.00?
If they are charging a commercial fare of £3.50, and that is going to bring in more than a capped £3.00 fare, then the rebate they get must be incredibly meagre!
If you are travelling within an urban area then it probably doesn't save much or anything. But in rural areas it is likely that it still saving you money, even if you aren't making a Coastliner length journey. My most common journey is about 15 miles, and the zonal ticket (which, pre-cap, was what you got when you asked for a return) is £7.60, so that's a saving of more than 20% for a simple return journey from one town to the next.
Is it not the case that the Central Government has poured vast sums of money into the coffers of Greater Manchester in an attempt to keep Andy Burnham in post as Greater Manchester Mayor and well away from a certain high political role in Westminster?
The shadow fare for my 2-and-a-bit mile journey (single) is £4.50... I'm more than happy to keep the £3 single fare, thank you very much! If nothing else, it makes up for the highlighter blue bus company's often dismal service...
It says flat fare, which implies only one fare available.
But that is only a bus only ticket. Bus and tram tickets are expensive by international standards. The West Midlands has cheaper monthly bus only tickets and weekly tickets are the same at £20.
A day ticket may be cheaper to buy for a return trip within more urban ticket zones, but certainly not always if your journey is outside these zones into more rural areas. The only day ticket available on my local buses costs £10.50. Before the original £2 cap was introduced the single fare into town was £4 and the day ticket was cheaper at £7.90. Since the caps were introduced Stagecoach have increased the price of the day ticket by this large amount. Also in Nottinghamshire, as in many areas, there is no multi operator day ticket available if you travel outside the city area. Even with the £3 single fare, a return journey of only a few miles can soon cost at least £12.
The £2 fare on the Bee Network is a flat fare rather than a cap (much as the flat fare on a TfL bus is £1.75). Both networks also allow multiple changes of bus within an hour.
Likely just the first, but Rotala's operation in Preston is hardly sustainable. There are very few routes where it isn't preferable to use another operator, and even then the 19, 23 and 35 all have overcrowding issues.
(ok that may be exaggerating)
