Rethink over decision to stop child bus passes

Children who previously bought a monthly bus pass could pay up to 73% more by switching to weekly passes

Children in Cornwall may retain cheaper bus travel after officials said they were reconsidering a decision to stop issuing monthly child passes in favour of more expensive weekly ones.

Go Bus Cornwall, which operates local routes on behalf of Cornwall Council, removed all monthly passes and a weekly family pass on Sunday, as well as increasing prices on other passes.

Cornwall Council told the BBC it was reconsidering the decision to axe children's passes following public pressure, which would have seen prices for some schoolchildren rise by between 29% and 73%.

It said it was "working with bus operators to offer an affordable solution". Go Bus Cornwall has been contacted for a comment.

Low usage data

The council said it was working to reduce the "financial impact from the removal of the child monthly ticket" and would "provide more information in the coming days".

However, other price rises will remain in place, as well as the decision to remove the adult monthly passes and weekly family passes.

Cornwall Council said the original decision to remove monthly passes was "based on data" which showed "extremely low usage", but it understood removing child passes affected "children who use buses to travel to school" but were not eligible for free transport.

The council has not said whether the child monthly passes would be reinstated or whether it will offer something else in its place.

The removal of adult monthly passes and the weekly family pass means people who had been purchasing these could effectively pay between 45% and 110% more by switching to other, more-expensive passes.

The council said fewer than "one percent of ticket sales" came from the discontinued passes.

The second price increase in less than five months comes as a subsidy scheme winds up, the council has said.

It said keeping the discontinued passes would mean it was "likely that the funding would run out at the end of this year", meaning all passengers would "be faced with paying the full fare for journeys far earlier than planned".

Capped £2 journeys

Go Bus has increased adult fares for passes by between 7% and 20%, according to figures published on its website.

The company said last week that it had "looked at which products were most important to our customers" and had "simplified" the choice of tickets on offer.

Single bus journeys would remain capped at £2 per journey for adults until the end of the year, while children under five could travel for free, Go Bus said.

The company said it had been "subsidising fares to keep them at reduced prices" since it introduced its Bus Fares Pilot in April 2022, and estimated it had allowed passengers to save "millions of pounds".

However, it said rising operating costs - which the council said have increased by nearly 25% - meant it now needed to increase prices.

The council said without subsidies an all-day pass would cost about £11.50, compared to £7.50 after the price rises.

The council said school buses would be unaffected by the price rises and free travel for eligible students remained in place, as well as "highly-subsidised bus fares for under 19s", including a £20 unlimited-use ticket.