Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced today, two days before Rachel Reeves’s budget on Wednesday, that the government funded cap on single bus fares will rise from its current £2 to £3 from 1 January 2025 and will be maintained through 2025.
This announcement is not entirely surprising as rumours had been circulating in the bus industry ever since the election in July that the Labour government would not keep the £2 cap, although pundits were suggesting that it might go up to £2.50 initially. It is disappointing to see that it will jump directly to £3.
What remains to be seen is what the bus companies in Cornwall will do about shorter journey fares and under 19 fares. Over the past year or so, the £2 maximum has become, in most cases, also the minimum, with band 1 fares, including journeys in town zones rising from £1.60 to £2.00; and the cheapest under 19 fare went from £1.00 to £1.50 - on longer journeys, under 19s are now paying the same as adults at £2.00. Hopefully, First and Go Cornwall Bus will not simply push every fare up to £3. We will wait to see what happens.