Just The Ticket!

All local and regional bus fares in England could be capped at £2 this autumn.

Prices could be slashed for six months from October, with bargain rates for cross-country journeys of up to 80 miles and lasting more than three hours.

Downing Street has reportedly been working on the scheme since April but it’s not known if a new prime minister will affect its introduction.

The project comes amid skyrocketing fuel prices, with the price of filling up, increasing by £9 last month.

A source told a newspaper outlet that the importance of an eye-catching enterprise like a £2 flat fare is that the government can get behind it and say that they’re supporting people over the winter.

Bus services in England are presently more costly and less regular than in London, where pay-as-you-go fares are £1.65 if made within an hour.

It means an 80-mile journey from Peterborough to Norwich could be cut from £12 to £2, and a comparable length trip from Leeds to Whitby could be decreased from £19.

A Department for Transport spokesman said he wouldn’t comment on speculation, but he said in a statement that they’ve already committed to investing £3 billion into bus services by 2025, to improve fares, services and infrastructure, and given almost £2 billion since March 2020 to bus operators and local authorities to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.

The primary goal is to decrease the cost of travel in rustic areas and to city centres from outer suburbs, for commuting, shopping, relaxation and school journeys, but there will also be big bargains on more extended journeys.

The price cap will reportedly not apply to long-distance scheduled coach services, and will also not apply to Scotland and Wales.

Bus price caps of £2 to start in the autumn have already been announced by the Labour mayors of West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region.

They’re expected to last three years and are aimed at helping urban commuters.

Bus travel has been in long-term decline since the 1950s, and half the population take the bus less than once a year.

However, the sudden and dramatic growth in petrol prices means numerous drivers are likely to seek alternative ways of getting to work and travelling locally.

This is a great idea as long as the buses are frequent, but in some areas, there’s only one bus an hour.

At the moment even taking a two-stop journey, less than 1km costs something like £4.95, it’s madness. It’s no surprise that people don’t want to use the buses when it’s so costly, and what about trains? The United Kingdom appears to be the only developed country where long-distance train travel is basically unaffordable.

And why are the Government doing it in October? Why don’t they just do it now?

The reason why is because Boris Johnson has quit, so essentially this will never be a thing, but bus fares are outrageously high and if OAPs and the disabled didn’t get free bus rides none of them would be able to afford to travel and they would be stuck in their homes, so public transport needs to be improved.

However, they should also be doing this for train journeys as well because it seems strange to just have it for bus travel alone.

People need help in rural areas as well because buses don’t operate much in these places and if they do then it’s one bus every 2 hours, and in some areas, if there are two of you it works out more affordable to get a taxi than a bus.