Bus fares to be capped at £2 by 130 firms for months to help passengers with cost of living

Bus fares are being capped at £2 by 130 operators outside of London in a bid to help passengers with the rising cost of living.

National Express and Stagecoach are among the companies that will introduce the cap for single fares in England, with the scheme set to run from the start of January until the end of March. Children’s tickets are also being frozen at £1 for a single journey.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is funding the £60 million initiative which will put an upper limit on single journeys.

Currently, the average single local bus fare in England costs an average of £2.80, but this can exceed to more than £5 in rural areas where bus services are more sparse.

It is hoped that the £2 cap will help passengers to travel to work, school and medical appointments more cheaply amid 10.7% inflation.

Buses minister Richard Holden said: “Brits love buses. They’re the most popular form of public transport in England, making up half of all journeys.

“So we’re investing £60 million to cap single bus fares at £2 to help families, students and commuters, and get people back on the bus. The scheme will also take two million car journeys off the road and it’s fantastic to see so many bus operators signing up.

“So, if you’re in Carlisle or Weston-super-Mare, Birmingham or Doncaster, make sure you hop on the bus and get around for £2 between the 1st January and 31st March.”

National Express chief executive Tom Stables added: “More people using buses is good for the economy, environment and wider society. Bus travel is simple, cheap and easy and there’s never been a better time to get onboard.”

Travel disruption over Christmas

The news comes as commuters brace for weeks of travel disruption as thousands of workers walk out on strike this winter.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will strike from 24 to 27 December, with the action set to affect most train companies across Britain. Many services are expected to be cancelled or severely disrupted, and very few trains will run on strike days with no trains at all on some routes. Unless a resolution is reached, RMT members will then stage two more 48-hour strikes on 3 and 4 January, and 6 and 7 January.

Elsewhere, National Highways workers will walkout in London and the South East on 22 and 23 December, along with RMT Eurostar security staff.

More train disruption will follow as members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) at operator CrossCountry are also set to strike on Boxing Day and 27 December.

The union said it believes the walkouts will severely affect services at the three operators, which covers large swathes of the country, from Penzance in Cornwall, to London the Midlands, Wales, and Scottish cities as far north as Aberdeen. The TSSA is demanding a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies, no unagreed changes to terms and conditions, and a pay increase which addresses the rising cost of living.