Shock news – bus fares drop

03 December 2012

Fares tend to go in one direction – up. So it is great to hear that First Bus in Manchester have introduced lower bus fares across parts of its operating territory. This is good news for First’s passengers.

Our most recent Bus Passenger Survey results (March 2012) illustrated the stark difference in ratings for value money by fare-paying passengers across the city. Only 51% of First’s fare-paying passengers in Manchester were satisfied with the value for money of their journey where as 64% of Stagecoach’s passengers were satisfied.

These results backed-up the long-held view of local politicians that First’s offer had not been as strong as Stagecoach’s across a wide range of measures including reliability, punctuality, fleet age and affordability.

From 18 November many First Bus passengers would have seen their day ticket outlay fall from £4.50 to £3.90 and a weekly ticket drop from £18.00 to £13.00 bringing costs more in-line with those offered by Stagecoach who predominately operate in the south of Manchester.

First acknowledge that our BPS results helped influence their decision to introduce a new fare structure. I am talking with First Bus about running a separate “spring 2013” bus passenger survey across their patch to see how passengers react to the new fare offer as well as the introduction of new buses to the First fleet.

More details of the fare offer are contained in First’s press release:
http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/greater_manchester/travel_news/news_initiatives/?item=7811&conf=0