Fare increases from 12 April
18 March 2026

Bus fares are set to increase again from 12 April 2026. The government funded cap on single fares remains at £3 until March 2027, but all other fares are increasing. Short journeys that were all £2.50 single are becoming either “short”, still at £2.50, or “medium" at £2.80. All-day and all-week fares are increasing. The lower fares that were introduced a year ago for 19-25 year olds that meant that young people in this age range could purchase daily and weekly tickets for the same price as children are going up the most, bringing them much closer to the full adult prices, e.g. all-day ticket will increase from £5 to £8 and all-week from £20 to £32. What was the child monthly all Cornwall ticket, and at the time of its introduction was promised to remain at the same price until the end of this school year, is becoming a “4 week subscription” (an example of shrinkflation) and will increase in price again from the end of the school year on 26 July. Not only is the ticket benefit reducing from one month to 4 weeks, but it will be sold on an "auto-renew" basis meaning that some people who only ever intended to puchase it for a limited period may forget that it auto renews and will find that they have paid for another 4 weeks that they did not really want! It seems that Go Cornwall Bus has learned from subscription experts like Amazon Prime, Netflix etc. Return fares remain at twice the single fare meaning that there is absolutely no point in ever buying a return ticket.

Overall, the price increases are clearly designed to squeeze as much money as possible out of passengers without breaching the £3 maximum single fare. What will happen to bus fares once the government £3 cap funding expires next year is anybody’s guess.

Full details are in the tables below and are in the Transport for Cornwall website news item.

Update
18 March 2026
No sooner had I posted the above story but I found that Cornwall Council is proposing to increase the prices on the Truro park and ride service as well! The price increases will take effect from 1 April 2026. See park and ride price increases.