Routes excluded from English fare cap where operator generally participates

[johncrossley]

@james60059 says

Bus Fare Cap will be £2 from January

Breaking on BBC that most bus fares are going capped at £2 from January, they're currently £3, but some areas it's still £2 Most single bus fares in England will be capped at £2, PM announces 06:09 Most bus fares in England will be capped at £2 from 1 January in 2027, the government...

www.railforums.co.uk

HOWEVER, I have heard alleged rumours that Stagecoach and Arriva may opt some of their long distance routes out of the £2 cap such as the X17/X18 Coventry - Warwick/Leamington and X6/X84 Leicester - Coventry/Rugby services respectively.

@Cesarcollie says

An operator can’t choose to opt out certain routes. They are either all in, or all out. (There are some exceptions like tourist open top services). That’s the rules for the £3 cap - it is unlikely the new £2 will be different.

Trent Barton currently exclude their Derby to Nottingham express service from the £3 fare cap, so why can't those routes mentioned be excluded as well?

 

[Gareth1990]

@james60059 says

Bus Fare Cap will be £2 from January

Breaking on BBC that most bus fares are going capped at £2 from January, they're currently £3, but some areas it's still £2 Most single bus fares in England will be capped at £2, PM announces 06:09 Most bus fares in England will be capped at £2 from 1 January in 2027, the government...

www.railforums.co.uk

@Cesarcollie says



Trent Barton currently exclude their Derby to Nottingham express service from the £3 fare cap, so why can't those routes mentioned be excluded as well?

Because the Red Arrow is currently considered a coach in respect of Concessions (OAP and disabled passes are also not valid)

 

[Man of Kent]

Because the Red Arrow is currently considered a coach in respect of Concessions (OAP and disabled passes are also not valid)

And the conditions of the scheme require that:

The service must allow free concessionary travel, as defined by the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme, for the entirety of its length

Services that run only on schooldays are largely excluded too.

 

[nick291]

I'd imagine a lot of airport services would be included in this as well.

 

[Gareth1990]

I'd imagine a lot of airport services would be included in this as well.

What do you mean by airport services? Local Buses that serve the Airport? At the top of my head only the Bristol airport buses are excluded from the concession scheme and thus also the fare cap

 

[Kite159]

What do you mean by airport services? Local Buses that serve the Airport? At the top of my head only the Bristol airport buses are excluded from the concession scheme and thus also the fare cap

The 'Hotel Hoppa' style bus routes maybe?

 

[SalopBuses]

The Shrewsbury Park and Ride routes aren't part of the fare cap or ENCTS but the fares are cheaper anyway.
Not sure what the prices will be when D&G take over the Park and Ride routes when Hotspur comes along.

 

[nick291]

What do you mean by airport services? Local Buses that serve the Airport? At the top of my head only the Bristol airport buses are excluded from the concession scheme and thus also the fare cap

Yes, that is prime example number 1. But also services Like Railair, Flightline etc

 

[Gareth1990]

Yes, that is prime example number 1. But also services Like Railair, Flightline etc

Flightline is definitely included in both the concessionary scheme and fare cap, I take the 102 bus three or four times a week and railair is classified as a coach for ticketing purposes so is excluded

 

[38291018]

Trent Barton currently exclude their Derby to Nottingham express service from the £3 fare cap, so why can't those routes mentioned be excluded as well?

Because the Red Arrow is currently considered a coach in respect of Concessions (OAP and disabled passes are also not valid)

Ye the redarrow I understand and agree on as it's a coach, however some of Trentbartons 'nightbus services' don't have the cap. Also when they run the DPA download shuttle which is a registered service don't include it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jul 2026 ==

So would of thought an operator can pick and choose routes if they wanted or within certain requirements such as late services, limited stop services which may not even be a coach ect

 

[Dwarfer1979]

Ye the redarrow I understand and agree on as it's a coach, however some of Trentbartons 'nightbus services' don't have the cap. Also when they run the DPA download shuttle which is a registered service don't include it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jul 2026 ==

So would of thought an operator can pick and choose routes if they wanted or within certain requirements such as late services, limited stop services which may not even be a coach ect

I don't believe the legislation allows the operators to pick and choose themselves, the fare cap is all in or all out. As mentioned there is a caveat around whether it is within the concessionary schemes but that isn't within the operators choice either, it is up to the councils whether they exclude any service - there are a couple of reasons that councils are able to use to exclude services including:
1. The vehicle used itself is part of the attraction of the ride (heritage & open top services sit here)
2. Special event services (Download shuttles for instance)
3. Premium fare services (I think Red Arrow had slightly higher than normal fares though the exclusion of Red Arrow by Derby & Nottingham City Councils always seemed slightly tenuous, as often do night buses with non-standard higher flat fares)
4. The existence of pre-booked seats (National Express services with registered sections often got excluded thanks to this as more than 50% of seats could be pre-booked).

The council could force a service to accept concessionary travel even if they didn't want to but the operator can't withdraw any service from the scheme that a council wishes to include.

 

[Mark L]

Flightline is definitely included in both the concessionary scheme and fare cap, I take the 102 bus three or four times a week and railair is classified as a coach for ticketing purposes so is excluded

Flightline is a marketing brand used by several operators each of whom has its own fares structure. All participants are currently covered by the fare cap but White Bus, whose 446 and 555 will be rebranded as Flightline later this year, is not. Whether this changes remains to be seen! Newbury & District 730/1 is a split registration so a passenger travelling from Basingstoke to Heathrow is charged two fares (so £6 in total).

 

[SalopBuses]

Albatross Coaches made a social media post about their X80 to Alton Towers service not allowing ENCTS passes as the council have classed it as a leisure service, not a regular bus route, even though the route does offer short hops for those who are not visiting Alton Towers.
This also means they cannot participate in the free child fare scheme

 

[kijeta]

Flightline is definitely included in both the concessionary scheme and fare cap, I take the 102 bus three or four times a week and railair is classified as a coach for ticketing purposes so is excluded

RA3 (Heathrow - Watford Junction) is now classed as a bus, and therefore accepts ENCTS. It also chose to accept £3 cap. Neither of the other two Railairs are buses, however.

 

[A S Leib]

Which cases are there of the £2 cap applying to routes between England and Scotland or Wales? I'm fairly certain that neither the national cap nor the (currently) lower North East cap have applied to the X74 (Newcastle – Jedburgh) or 60 or 67 (Berwick – Galashiels) for the full length.

 

[BuhSnarf]

You can see what currently is excluded by going to the Gov website and reviewing there:

£3 national bus fare cap

A list of bus companies and bus routes included in the £3 bus fare cap scheme.

www.gov.uk

I would assume that these routes will remain the same for the £2 cap when it starts in 2027, unless an operator pulls out. Always find this list useful when planning trips.

 

[Deerfold]

The 'Hotel Hoppa' style bus routes maybe?

Hallmark Connections, who currently operate Heathrow Hotel Hoppa services, do not operate any routes that do accept the capped fares.

 

[JKP]

You can see what currently is excluded by going to the Gov website and reviewing there:

A list of bus companies and bus routes included in the £3 bus fare cap scheme.

I would assume that these routes will remain the same for the £2 cap when it starts in 2027, unless an operator pulls out. Always find this list useful when planning trips.

Was there not an update? As per the post by A S Leib above, Borders Buses 60, 67 are not part of the scheme to my knowledge. What is the position of Arriva X16 Kelso to Newcastle. Does anyone know? Scottish National Concessionary Cards are not valid on this route either.

 

[Deerfold]

Was there not an update? As per the post by A S Leib above, Borders Buses 60, 67 are not part of the scheme to my knowledge. What is the position of Arriva X16 Kelso to Newcastle. Does anyone know? Scottish National Concessionary Cards are not valid on this route either.

That page says it was updated July 22.

 

[BuhSnarf]

Was there not an update? As per the post by A S Leib above, Borders Buses 60, 67 are not part of the scheme to my knowledge. What is the position of Arriva X16 Kelso to Newcastle. Does anyone know? Scottish National Concessionary Cards are not valid on this route either.

Borders Bus 60/67 isn't on the page which would indicate it's not accepted.

Arriva Northumbria's X16 is listed as in the cap.

 

[Mark L]

Hallmark Connections, who currently operate Heathrow Hotel Hoppa services, do not operate any routes that do accept the capped fares.

The fares charged on Hallmark / Diamond South East routes A60, H21, H30 and N555 (which are its only remaining local bus routes) are all under £3 anyway. All are run under contract to Heathrow. It will, however, cease providing all bar the H30 later this month.