Youth passes for £1 bus fares taken up by 17,000

Peterborough student Kelly Jesus said cheaper bus fares were a "weight off her mind"

More than 17,000 young people have applied for bus passes giving them half-price fares in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

The mayoral authority began its £3.85m Tiger bus pass scheme in May, allowing under-25s to travel for £1 on single journeys in the county.

It followed a decision to treble the council tax precept charged to householders to help fund bus services.

Nik Johnson, mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said the scheme's popularity was a "clear sign" of demand for affordable travel.

"The £1 Tiger bus pass is making a real difference to young people’s day-to-day lives already," he said.

The bus passes are free to apply for and work on services run by Stagecoach, Whippet, Dews, A2B, Stephensons, Fact, Star Travel and First.

Figures show 12,000 journeys were made using the pass in the first month.

The mayoral authority increased its council tax precept earlier this year from £12 to £36 to fund bus travel in the county.

That includes 30 new or improved bus routes set to begin this autumn.

The mayor hopes to begin running publicly-owned bus services by September 2027

The authority has already restored some services, including what it called a "vital" route between Peterborough and Stamford, Lincolnshire, with stops in Wittering, Wansford, Ailsworth, Castor and Longthorpe.

It has also subsidised services between Littleport and Cambridge after cutbacks on Stagecoach's number 9 bus route.

The plan is for bus services across Cambridgeshire to be publicly-owned so the authority can set its own routes and timetables – a process that is expected to take at least three years.

Kelly Jesus, 19, a student at ARU Peterborough, described the half-price bus fares as a "weight off my mind".

She said: "Whenever I'm going to a conference, event, work experience or training session, I would normally spend £2 to get there and £2 back.

"Multiplied over a month, it is a lot of money which I have now been able to halve."

Bus pass user Zion Ayokunnu, 23, said he was saving £4 per day on his commute between St Neots and Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where he works part-time.

"The cumulative savings compared with previous months without the pass have really made a difference," he said.