Bus fares to rise as fare cap increased

Bus fares in Cornwall for single journeys are set to increase from £2 to £3

Some bus fares in Cornwall are set to rise as the government's national bus fares cap is rising to £3.

Transport for Cornwall said the current cap was £2 and announced on Wednesday how bus fairs would change in 2025 and what it would mean for those living in Cornwall.

It said some journeys would be subsidised through Cornwall Council's reduced fares pilot.

The increase on the cap on single bus journeys was announced in the October budget.

In 2019 Cornwall Council was awarded £23.5m from the Department for Transport to deliver a bus fares pilot.

This meant bus operators were reimbursed the difference between the fare that the public paid and the fare that operators would have charged in the absence of the pilot.

Pilot postponed

The aim of the pilot was to determine the impact lower fares would have on passenger numbers.

The pilot was due to start in April 2020, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic the pilot was postponed until April 2022.

Through the reduced fares pilot the Transport for Cornwall partnership, which includes Cornwall Council and bus operators, such as Go Cornwall Bus and First Bus, was able to cut the cost of bus fares and trial new ticket options.

Go Cornwall bus said the Cornwall day ticket, which from January would cost £8, would cost £11 without the reduced fares pilot.

More than 8.7 million discounted tickets were sold through Cornwall's bus fares pilot and more than 15.7 million journeys were made, Go Cornwall bus said.

It added funding for the pilot was beginning to run out and it was likely that fares would return to their commercial value at the end of 2025.