Transport User Voice February 2025 – The new £3 bus fare

31 January 2025

Is it still value for money?

With the announcement of the increase in the £2 capped bus fare to £3 by the Chancellor in the2024 Budget, January has seen the first month of the increase in place. With bus still the most popular mode of public transport – how do passengers rate value for money as part of their bus journey? 

About 3.4 million people in England use buses across England, and the new cap will apply to most bus operators and areas across England and will run until the end of 2025. Single bus fares in London with Transport for London will, however, remain at £1.75 and those in some areas such as the Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester will stay at £2. 

In Transport Focus’s ‘Your Bus Journey – Key driver analysis’, published in late 2024, passengers indicated that value for money was an important part of how they thought generally about the quality of the service on offer, rather than just the cost of the ticket.  

Fare-payers were also influenced by a range of other factors such as the cost for the distance travelled or per journey, for the number of journeys they make with a ticket or pass, the comparison of fares against other modes or everyday items, as well as the quality of the service. 

Passengers said that the original national fare cap of £2 had influenced their attitudes and attracted them to use buses more, as well as helping with the cost of living. Satisfaction levels for value for money across ticket types, show that the highest scores are for single tickets and are lower for weekly or monthly products. 

Passengers’ say that their overall satisfaction on value for money is 67 per cent and that rises to 77 per cent for those purchasing a single ticket, and 71per cent for a return. Those using a day pass or longer weekly or monthly pass are 64 per cent and 58 per cent satisfied. 

We know that people depend on buses to get them to places of work and education, to important appointments and to give them access to shops and leisure. Inadequate bus services can also act as a check on economic and social growth. In the coming year Transport Focus will be monitoring the impacts that the new capped fare has on encouraging existing passengers to make additional journeys and those who would not normally choose the bus to give it a go. 

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