Manx school bus fare price jump to generate £45k

The cost of a journey to school increased by 10p in February

A 25% price jump for Manx school bus fares is set to generate £45,000, the infrastructure minister has confirmed.

The change, introduced last month, means journeys for students travelling to school or college using pre-paid Go School smart travel cards have gone up from 40p to 50p.

Tim Crookall MHK said the government had "held down prices for many years" and the fares remained "significantly subsidised".

The funds would help to "ensure the current level of service" offered by Bus Vannin across the island was "sustainable over the next 12 months", he said.

Travel on school buses was free for pupils on the island until 2015, when a 25p charge was introduced.

Fares then rose to 30p in January 2018 and 40p the following year.

Mr Crookall told the House of Keys the island's bus service costs £10.7m to run and makes £5.1m in fares, which means £5.6m in subsidies from general taxation is required.

'Losing a fortune'

Clare Christian asked why a longer notice period had not been given to parents and pupils about the price rise, while Joney Faragher MHK suggested the rise was not in line in with plans to promote the use of public transport.

She also called for "an analysis of the impact" of reintroducing free travel to be included in a planned review of the services.

However, Mr Crookall said the government-owned bus firm had faced "significant" cost increases in recent years and giving advance notice of the rise could have meant "we end up losing a fortune as people put lots of money on the cards".

A full review of the bus provision, which would gather the views views of departments and the public and consider areas such as cost and accessibility, would get underway after the new timetable was published in April, he added.