Maximum two pound bus fare across most operators in England

[whole diary]

[grahame]

What about an appropriate similar scheme for trains?   Sort out fares for the summer and keep extending?

Ooooooooos gonna pay for it?

1. Who is paying for the bus scheme?

2. Read me carefully - I said "appropriate" scheme not a £2.50 flat rail fare.  I would wonder if it may be more "who's going to guarantee it" that "who's going to pay for it", but then it could results in trains being overfilled, and cutbacks from 10 and 9 car to 5 car, etc, have reduced capacity and made for a system which is pruned towards reduced passenger levels.

[grahame]

The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than 28 January 2025. It will determine the composition of the House of Commons.

I expect the £2.50 will extend until March 2025 if the election goes "to the wire".

[Richard Fairhurst]

Very pleased to see that Pulhams are now joining the fare cap scheme following their acquisition by Go-Ahead/Oxford Bus Company.

[ChrisB]

The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than 28 January 2025. It will determine the composition of the House of Commons.

I expect the £2.50 will extend until March 2025 if the election goes "to the wire".

You reckon it'll go to the wire? Seriously??

[CyclingSid]

Very pleased to see that Pulhams are now joining the fare cap scheme following their acquisition by Go-Ahead/Oxford Bus Company.

Possibly the only good thing of being acqured by by Go-Ahead/Oxford Bus Company?

[Richard Fairhurst]

I'd be more charitable than that! OBC have a knack for promotion and have shown they're willing to try and grow the business. Pulhams were lovely as independents, but I don't think I've ever seen a single piece of promotion for the X9 ("our" bus, Witney–Charlbury–Chipping Norton), and they only introduced card payment on it when OCC funded them to do so.

I'd pretty much resigned myself to the X9 being abandoned in a year or two and left for a community transport organisation to pick up. It may still happen but having the heft of OBC behind it gives it a fighting chance.

[bobm]

In Swindon we have Go-Ahead and Stagecoach.   I know which I prefer.  A modern fleet v an ageing one. 

[JayMac]

Whenever I'm travelling around the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) I'm always glad when the local bus operator in a particular area is Go Ahead.

Miles *ahem* Ahead of First, Stagecoach or Arriva.

[CyclingSid]

Bus fares in rural England drop 11% thanks to government's £2 fare cap
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bus-fares-in-rural-england-drop-11-thanks-to-governments-2-fare-cap
How does this translate to the income of the companies who run the buses? I believe the number of rural bus routes has continued to decline this year.

[Ralph Ayres]

I understood that the bus companies were being compensated for any lost revenue, though it's not clear to me how that is calculated.  Comparing with the previous year isn't realistic cos of the pandemic, changes to routes etc, and most drivers don't bother asking where you are going so it's not based on what price you would have paid which might have gone up by now anyway. No mention of how much the overall subsidy has cost in the press release, which actually raises more questions than it answers if you look at it in detail. The sentence about fares being comparable to 2007 particularly stands out. I would hope some of the media would ask for more background, but most will probably just copy and paste what amounts to a government promotional piece.

[stuving]

I can't find the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s own version of the rules for the Bus Fare Cap Grant. This is from TransportXtra, who also reported the extension in May without any mention of alterations.

£2 bus fare cap operator payments to be fixed
Peter Stonham    29 November 2022

More details have been revealed on how operators will be reimbursed for offering a maximum £2 bus fare for three months starting in January. The Government's Bus Fare Cap Grant (BFCG) will distribute the £60m allocated to the £2 flat fare scheme planned in England outside London for January to March.

Participating operators look set to be offered a fixed funding allocation in early December, before they need to confirm whether they will take part.

Consultancy firm EY UK^▸ (United Kingdom) has been engaged by DfT to collect the data necessary to calculate allocations, which will be capped at £20m for each of the three months in question. Key questions being addressed in draft BFCG guidance relate to the treatment of losses or profits of those involved in the scheme, what services they agree to include – probably all their network – and the competitive consequences between those operators taking part and those not doing so

DfT issued the draft guidance in early November and made clear that terms within it are subject to change. Among other provisions are acceptance of concessionary passes and the impacts of established fare capping arrangements. On services that cross borders to Scotland or Wales, only journeys beginning in England will be eligible for the grant.

Calculation of the sum to be offered to each operator will be carried out via a four-stage process that first uses a baselining exercise to calculate average revenue loss per ticket, followed by forecasting of BFCG take-up and a generation factor to reflect expected growth in demand, including adjustment for passengers switching from other tickets to the £2 fare.

When it announced the cap in September Ministers said offering people support during the cost-of-living crisis was a key reason for its creation, though encouragement of post-Pandemic patronage return was another.

I'd guess that the amounts have been recalculated for any offer to operators for the extension.

[JayMac]

The rise from £2 to £2.50 on 31st October will now not go ahead. To remain at £2 until December 2024.

[Phantom]

Great to hear

I've actually use the local bus service more in the past two months that I did in the previous two years

[JayMac]

Notwithstanding my bus woes today (as told elsewhere), I too have made considerably more bus journeys since the fare cap came in.