£2 fare cap comes to Scotland:

[Stan Drews]

One must wonder if this money, presently being practically thrown at the oft-abused system of subsidised PSV travel, could be better used towards driving down the cost of rail fares, especially given that at present they are effectively made out to be a premium service amongst those lucky enough to be outwith the ages of 22-59... and this trial, if successful, would make it much cheaper to return on buses than railways for all ages as well as those 22-59.

I can't imagine that Transport Scotland isn't aware that they are effectively shooting themselves in the foot by pushing travellers towards the privately-run competitor to the railway they themselves operate, especially keeping in mind the present cost of living crisis?

Rail fares on many Scotrail routes are already heavily subsidised, hence why most suburban fares in the Greater Glasgow (SPT) area are already much lower than the equivalent commercial bus fares.

 

[cactustwirly]

Lothian is unique in that it is a municipally run company, it already has caps, not just on singles but day tickets too. A bit like London, it does its own thing.

There are other municipal companies in England under the cap
Unless all of Lothian's fares are £2 or less?

 

[JKP]

There are other municipal companies in England under the cap
Unless all of Lothian's fares are £2 or less?

There is a flat fare of £2.20 single charged on Lothian routes which covers Edinburgh, Midlothian and Musselburgh area. East Coast and Lothian Country routes have a zonal system.

 

[aron2smith]

Trains and buses complement each other and shouldn't be considered as competitors. I know that's the British way but we need to get out of this mindset.

Strongly agree and would make life so much easier if it was treated this way. Buses should extend the reach of the railway. Good to see parts of Scotland copy England on a bus fare cap but the next step should be to integrate fares and promotes things like Plus Bus far more. I think a natural evolution of a single fair cap would be either a day cap or even some kind of city or county travelcard.

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

Rail fares on many Scotrail routes are already heavily subsidised, hence why most suburban fares in the Greater Glasgow (SPT) area are already much lower than the equivalent commercial bus fares.

Not as discounted as it used to be only 33.3% discount on the SPT issued NECs within the SPT area compared the 50% it was before September this year and before April it was a flat £1 Single or £1.50 return within 10 miles, buses are a lot busier now due to it, Not worth getting the train anymore if the bus is free

 

[Sealink]

I still get shocked by bus and rail fares in the North of Scotland (hence Ember's arrival being very welcome).

Tain to Inverness on X25 bus is £19.80
Train is £19.40. I think ScotRail assume all their passengers will have a rail card of some sort.

I hope X25 will be part of the fare cap although I expect Ember and Citylink services won't be.

 

[GusB]

I still get shocked by bus and rail fares in the North of Scotland (hence Ember's arrival being very welcome).

This is what happens when there's no regulation of fares and no competition.

Tain to Inverness on X25 bus is £14
Train is £19.40. I think ScotRail assume all their passengers will have a rail card of some sort.

There is a Highland Railcard that offers 50% off. Tain falls within the list of applicable postcodes. It's not relevant to this thread, though.

 

[Sealink]

There is a Highland Railcard that offers 50% off. Tain falls within the list of applicable postcodes. It's not relevant to this thread, though.

That is what I was referring to,.it makes the Far North Line very expensive for those of us not resident there and not qualifying for other Railcards.

So to repeat myself this fare cap is very welcome

 

[Tinkerer]

I think the £2 cap will end up usual screw-up by Holyrood and they will waste millions until they decide to scrap the idea.

To me, the bigger issue is the cost of financing the NEC cards in Scotland, especially now that the under 22s can now apply for one. I really do think the Scottish Government should look at these costs and try to reduce them. I got my NEC card when I was 60 and it saved me a fortune over 5 years until i retired. Upon retirement the card has been a godsend, with no restrictions (I believe at one time in England card holders could not travel before 9am).

Personally, I think that if the Scottish Government introduced a £1 cap for NEC holders, many would not grudge paying it. Over the years, I certainly got a lot of use out of my card, my Golden Ticket

 

[Falcon1200]

(I believe at one time in England card holders could not travel before 9am).

That is still the case, in Oxford at least.

I did not use the bus for work purposes but since reaching 60 I am on them every week! It is a great pity that Scottish cards are not valid in England (even with a time restriction), and vice versa, of course.

 

[aron2smith]

I did not use the bus for work purposes but since reaching 60 I am on them every week! It is a great pity that Scottish cards are not valid in England (even with a time restriction), and vice versa, of course.

I agree, surely it wouldn't be that hard to make English, Scottish and Welsh bus passes mutually accepted in all corners of the country. North Wales at least offer a discount if an English or Scottish pass is shown, so it can be done.

 

[Sealink]

I still get shocked by bus and rail fares in the North of Scotland (hence Ember's arrival being very welcome).

Tain to Inverness on X25 bus is £19.80
Train is £19.40. I think ScotRail assume all their passengers will have a rail card of some sort.

I hope X25 will be part of the fare cap although I expect Ember and Citylink services won't be.

So the app fare and the.fare I was charged on board has changed to £14.00.

 

[markymark2000]

I agree, surely it wouldn't be that hard to make English, Scottish and Welsh bus passes mutually accepted in all corners of the country. North Wales at least offer a discount if an English or Scottish pass is shown, so it can be done.

They are VERY different levels of reimbursement. The schemes cost working people enough as it is too with the amount it takes from the tax pot. It needs to be cut back, not expanded!

 

[Tinkerer]

They are VERY different levels of reimbursement. The schemes cost working people enough as it is too with the amount it takes from the tax pot. It needs to be cut back, not expanded!

I agree with that. It is costing too much. Another issue is the concerns that one bus driver mentioned to me that since Scotland made NEC cards available to the under 22s, there has been more problems with uruly youngsters making journeys they would not normally take and some were being very noisy. I'm sure drivers will know what I'm talking about when they had to do the School Runs.

 

[overthewater]

I think the £2 cap will end up usual screw-up by Holyrood and they will waste millions until they decide to scrap the idea.

To me, the bigger issue is the cost of financing the NEC cards in Scotland, especially now that the under 22s can now apply for one. I really do think the Scottish Government should look at these costs and try to reduce them. I got my NEC card when I was 60 and it saved me a fortune over 5 years until i retired. Upon retirement the card has been a godsend, with no restrictions (I believe at one time in England card holders could not travel before 9am).

Personally, I think that if the Scottish Government introduced a £1 cap for NEC holders, many would not grudge paying it. Over the years, I certainly got a lot of use out of my card, my Golden Ticket

They wont cut back the OAP, nor will they add a £1 cap. There was a report done 20 years ago, and the bottom line of that report was because the pension age was going up and the life expectancy in Scotland was 3-4 year younger than compared to England, it would result in less people north of the border getting full enjoyment or a fair deal. So the bus passes were dropped to 60 to compensate, They will not push it up. Nor will they make anyone pay because it would result in poorest not using it.

However we have been around the houses on this topic and alot of battle lines have been drawn I suggest we stick to this £2 scheme.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jan 2026 ==

There is no start date, but the scheme has been extended to Moray, It's a very large area this test case is going to cover. Unless more bus routes are added it will not make a real difference.

New bus fare price cap could be ‘genuinely transformative’ for rural communities

Good news is just down the road for Moray bus passengers with the introduction of a pilot scheme capping bus fares at £2.

www.forres-gazette.co.uk

Bus fares across Moray are set to be capped at just £2 thanks to a new pilot scheme due to be rolled out.

The region will join the Highlands, Argyll and Bute, The Western Isles and Orkney and Shetland in the Regional Bus Fare Pilot Scheme.

The pilot will be supported by £10 million of investment and aims to make bus travel more affordable and accessible. This scheme will help to strengthen local bus services in communities and support sustainable travel for people in those regions.

The Scottish Government intends to work jointly with Regional Transport Partnerships HiTrans and ZetTrans to deliver the pilot.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop MSP said: “Scotland’s public transport system is a key enabler for growth and opportunity, helping people and communities to connect to jobs, education, retail, public services, leisure, social and family networks.

“I am pleased to confirm the establishment of the bus fare cap pilot, another way in which we can help people to make positive and proactive travel choices to use bus and address affordability issues.

“I very much look forward to working with HiTrans and ZetTrans, and relevant bus operators within these areas, to progress the launch of the pilot and make bus travel more affordable, improve access for low-income communities and support sustainable travel for people across those regions.”

 

[overthewater]

Further to the above news Moray council has joined the scheme does anyone have a start date?

 

[GusB]

Further to the above news Moray council has joined the scheme does anyone have a start date?

Moray was included in the scheme from the outset. See the opening post...

 

[cf111]

I still get shocked by bus and rail fares in the North of Scotland (hence Ember's arrival being very welcome).

Tain to Inverness on X25 bus is £19.80
Train is £19.40. I think ScotRail assume all their passengers will have a rail card of some sort.

I hope X25 will be part of the fare cap although I expect Ember and Citylink services won't be.

Indeed, competition is most welcome.

I will be surprised if Citylink services are part of this scheme so I am pinning my hopes on Ember starting up an Inverness-Portree run in the future. The current price for an open return with Citylink on the 917 is £60. Yes there's the train at Kyle but that's not ideal for a lot of journeys as the earliest you can get into Inverness doing it that way is after 2pm.

A single is £35.90 for reference and an advance return runs to £45.90.

 

[Sealink]

I doubt it too, as National Express aren't part of the scheme in England.

Citylink single fares from Wick are shocking.

 

[nw1]

Tain to Inverness on X25 bus is £19.80
Train is £19.40. I think ScotRail assume all their passengers will have a rail card of some sort.

I don't know the area but looking at the map and seeing the two places aren't too far from each other - both bus and train seem incredibly expensive. The Inverness-Elgin bus fare quoted above (£15.60) also seems very steep for the apparent distance. Even before the price cap, I don't think I've ever paid more than about £10 on local buses - and that was for a day ticket.

This must be exacerbated by the likely situation that salaries in this area are not as high as in South East England, I suspect.

And I thought Scotland had better value public transport than England!

 

[Sealink]

Tain to Inverness is actually £14 on the X25, when I used it last week. Still a lot. As a private company I accept Stagecoach and Citylink can charge what they like.

What I find awful is ScotRail, who seem to assume that everyone north of Inverness will have a Highland railcard. I am like a broken record on this subject.

When Tain - Inverness - Nairn (where Advance tickets apply) can be cheaper than Tain - Inverness (and indeed Wick - Inverness (advance again)) you do wonder.

 

[overthewater]

It all pure speculation right now, nothing has been agreed upon, Which is madness as its due to start at the end of the month. I emailed HITRANS.

Hopefully within the next week we will find out the following.
* Start date
* How it will effect cross boundary routes
* Will Scottish Citylink routes be included esp the like of 919.

Moray was included in the scheme from the outset. See the opening post...

I have now learnt that Moray is in Hitrans and not North east one.

 

[cf111]

It all pure speculation right now, nothing has been agreed upon, Which is madness as its due to start at the end of the month. I emailed HITRANS.

Hopefully within the next week we will find out the following.
* Start date
* How it will effect cross boundary routes
* Will Scottish Citylink routes be included esp the like of 919.


I have now learnt that Moray is in Hitrans and not North east one.

Much obliged @overthewater , look forward to reading the response.

 

[overthewater]

Much obliged @overthewater , look forward to reading the response.

They hope it will all be sorted by next week, Transport Scotland is dealing with everything.

 

[Deerfold]

I doubt it too, as National Express aren't part of the scheme in England.

Citylink single fares from Wick are shocking.

But Coaches in England and Wales aren't covered by concessionary schemes, either.

 

[Stan Drews]

They hope it will all be sorted by next week, Transport Scotland is dealing with everything.

I wonder if they’ve spoken to any bus operators yet?

 

[overthewater]

I wonder if they’ve spoken to any bus operators yet?

Don't worry they will speak to the operators a week after it starts

 

[johncrossley]

Tain to Inverness is actually £14 on the X25, when I used it last week. Still a lot. As a private company I accept Stagecoach and Citylink can charge what they like.

Being private doesn't mean they can't be regulated. Almost all industries have some kind of regulation and some are affected by price regulation. Obviously where private companies are paid to run a service by public transport authorities then they often have no say in the fares at all.

 

[Stan Drews]

Don't worry they will speak to the operators a week after it starts

It won’t start unless they agree how operators will be reimbursed and as those conversations haven’t even started yet, …January 2027 may be more realistic!

 

[AndrewTaylor95]

I don't know the area but looking at the map and seeing the two places aren't too far from each other - both bus and train seem incredibly expensive. The Inverness-Elgin bus fare quoted above (£15.60) also seems very steep for the apparent distance. Even before the price cap, I don't think I've ever paid more than about £10 on local buses - and that was for a day ticket.

This must be exacerbated by the likely situation that salaries in this area are not as high as in South East England, I suspect.

And I thought Scotland had better value public transport than England!

From Tain Asda to Inverness on the Ember E6 service is only £5.40