Birmingham PlusBus 75% price jump?

[Gagravarr]

Last week, I added a Birmingham PlusBus to my journey for £5.20.

As of today, it seems to have jumped a whopping 75% to £9! https://www.plusbus.info/birmingham

Birmingham PlusBus (West Midlands)

Day prices​

• Adult: £9.00
• Child: £4.50
• Railcard: £5.95

Looking back at some older tickets, this time last year was £4.80, in July 2024 it was £4.00, and the same for 2023. Those all feel much more reasonable annual increases.

Anyone know why it has jumped so much, and if there are any cheaper alternatives if you just need buses around the city centre not all the way out to Coventry?

 

[Deerfold]

Last week, I added a Birmingham PlusBus to my journey for £5.20.

As of today, it seems to have jumped a whopping 75% to £9! https://www.plusbus.info/birmingham


Looking back at some older tickets, this time last year was £4.80, in July 2024 it was £4.00, and the same for 2023. Those all feel much more reasonable annual increases.

Anyone know why it has jumped so much, and if there are any cheaper alternatives if you just need buses around the city centre not all the way out to Coventry?

Buses without trams is £5.50.

Ticketing

Search for bus, train & tram tickets around the West Midlands

ticketsearch.tfwm.org.uk

If you're wanting after 0930 can get train, bus and tram in the West Midlands for £8.90.

 

[pwharley]

As Deerfold has pointed out, you can get an all-day all-operator bus ticket for £5.50 adult.

Ticketing

Search for bus, train & tram tickets around the West Midlands

ticketsearch.tfwm.org.uk

I suggest you challenge the price with PlusBus. If people realise the premium they now charge, ticket sales will plummet.

There is no cheaper day ticket for the city centre only.

 

[MrJeeves]

The pricing is effectively unilaterally decided by the lead operator within the area, so I imagine this was an NX-led change.

I imagine they're displeased at the price Railcard holders would pay, so skyrocketed the pricing for undiscounted tickets to increase the cost for those discount holders.

It's a shame, since PlusBus's intention is to promote multi-modal journeys, and the last couple of miles from station to a home is an easy win with something like PlusBus. Ultimately, it's a pretty captive market, I'd imagine. If you need to take the bus, you need to take the bus, and you'll pay the higher price (or the single/nBus ticket) anyway.

 

[Edvid]

From memory the West Midlands PlusBus add-on had always been excellent value for money, especially as it also covers the West Midlands Metro. This almost certainly means the operators are - were? - in receipt of subsidies for it (from WMPTE originally and then TfWM, I think) and I suspect those subsidies have been slashed to ribbons or withdrawn.

The nBus+Metro day ticket is now only 30p more expensive than the PlusBus equivalent.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Anyone know why it has jumped so much, and if there are any cheaper alternatives if you just need buses around the city centre not all the way out to Coventry?

The justification will likely be that it includes validity on the Metro as well as buses and it's still cheaper (albeit only by 30p) than a peak Bus + Metro day ticket (but 10p more expensive than a Daytripper, which includes rail validity but is only valid from 0930.)

Presumably the outpayments to the various operators when it was £5.20 have now been determined to be insufficient.

 

[Roy1234]

Just discovered this shocker today! Even with a railcard discount, PlusBus Birmingham is now £5.95. The max I could have paid on the bus, either with a National Express dayticket, or by just tapping a bank card, is £5.50. So a £0.45 premium after railcard discount. Without a railcard, a £3.50 (63%) penalty for buying a day bus ticket with my train ticket.

Quite incredible. I will never by PlusBus (at least for Bham) ever again.

 

[Watershed]

Just discovered this shocker today! Even with a railcard discount, PlusBus Birmingham is now £5.95. The max I could have paid on the bus, either with a National Express dayticket, or by just tapping a bank card, is £5.50. So a £0.45 premium after railcard discount. Without a railcard, a £3.50 (63%) penalty for buying a day bus ticket with my train ticket.

Quite incredible. I will never by PlusBus (at least for Bham) ever again.

Yes, they've increased the price so much that it's only worthwhile buying if you're doing a fair amount of bus and tram travel. Even then buying a Daytripper is now often going to be worthwhile seeing as you have to be travelling from outside the PlusBus area to be eligible to buy a PlusBus ticket.

 

[Roy1234]

Thanks, I've just had a similar reply from PlusBus. They explain the ticket costing more that a Birmingham bus day ticket as being due to the inclusion of the Tram service, in that city a woefully limited network. Very few will want to travel there by train and then use both bus & tram. All others will save money by buying a day ticket for one or other service, not a PlusBus for both. The tram always was included I should say, but clearly something daft has gone on recently over price negotiations.

By comparison, Manchester's far superior tram network is excluded from their PlusBus, costing £4.90 as a result. The Birmingham decision to keep these two combined for a huge price jump to £9, perhaps subsidising the lame duck tram network that way, is an inexplicable error that will surely kill these tickets off in that city. I can only encourage those affected to complain to PlusBus who say they'll pass comments on to the Local Scheme Co-ordinator (LSC) for the area.

 

[trainJam]

The last time I attempted to use plusbus on the metro about a year ago, the conductor didn't accept it but by that point we were approaching our stop so they just let us go anyways .

 

[Roy1234]

The last time I attempted to use plusbus on the metro about a year ago, the conductor didn't accept it but by that point we were approaching our stop so they just let us go anyways .

Yes I've heard similar stories of inspectors refusing them. The reliability & downtime of the very limited Birmingham tram network is another can of worms. The arrival of the £2 bus fare in January is going to make a £9 PlusBus even more intolerable for most train visitors to Birmingham wanting just one bus somewhere and then back again.

 

[trainJam]

I haven't had any issues with nxbus drivers on plusbus, but I don't know about e.g. Arriva drivers on the 110.

 

[Roy1234]

I haven't had any issues with nxbus drivers on plusbus, but I don't know about e.g. Arriva drivers on the 110.

Yes I've always found nxbus drivers fine with plusbus, but in other cities have faced a standing argument with Arriva ones. Complaining to Arriva later, they apologised and promised more training of staff. I guess the combo of a little used ticket with (in Brum) a little used Tram service makes wrongful refusal more likely.