Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed yesterday (October 28) that the £2 single bus fare cap is due to increase to £3 in England as part of Autumn Budget plans. Funding for the current cap on bus fares was due to expire at the end of December, however from 2025 bus prices will rise by £1 for single journeys.
The £2 bus fare cap was introduced in England in September 2022 and will remain in place until the end of 2024, before increasing to £3 next year. The new cap, covering most bus journeys in England, with Greater Manchester being an exception, will run until the end of 2025 and means no bus fare will exceed £3.
The news comes as the Department for Transport confirms an additional £925 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to improve bus services across the country, bringing total bus investment at the Budget to over £1 billion. Local authorities can use the £925 million to introduce new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial bus routes for local communities.
Some of the biggest bus savings on some key routes up and down the country with the price cap include:
Journey | Normal fare | Amount save under £3 cap | % saving under £3 cap |
---|---|---|---|
Newcastle to Middlesbrough | £8.00 | £5.00 | 63% |
Hull to York | £8.50 | £5.50 | 65% |
Leeds to Scarborough | £15.00 | £12.00 | 80% |
Will all bus services have a £3 price cap?
According to the government, local authorities and Metro Mayors can also fund their own schemes to keep bus fares down, as is already the case in London, West Yorkshire and Manchester. Despite the new £3 bus fare cap, single bus fares in London with Transport for London will remain at £1.75 and those in Greater Manchester will stay at £2. Yet, areas just outside of Greater Manchester for instance, like those in Cheshire and Lancashire, will see an increase to the £2 single bus fare price cap due to being under different local authorities.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has confirmed that the price cap will remain at £2 for buses on the Bee Network for the whole of 2025, but is subject to a mid-year review. In a statement, the mayor said: “On 5/1/25, we will proceed with our plan to introduce a new simpler, flatter fare structure based around a £2 single fare and, on 23/3/25, a contactless London-style payment system with a daily and weekly cap setting a maximum for what people pay when travelling on our buses and trams.
“Because of the decisions we have taken, and the progress we have made, GM is in a different position to other areas across England when it comes to bus funding and bus fares. We are beginning to benefit from similar financial advantages as those long enjoyed by London…
“…We understand it is easier and cheaper to maintain a £2 cap in a regulated system and expensive for the Government to subsidise it in a deregulated one, but they have maintained the principle of a cap. Greater Manchester was the first to propose the £2 cap in March 2022, introducing it in September that year ahead of the national £2 scheme, and we will keep it as long we can.”
The new Buses Bill
The new price cap comes ahead of the new Buses Bill, set to be introduced later this parliamentary session. The bill aims to bring an end to the current postcode lottery of bus services by allowing local authorities to deliver modern and integrated bus networks that put passengers at the heart of local decision making.
The bill will mean local transport authorities can emulate the success of publicly controlled buses in Greater Manchester and London. Greater Manchester’s Bee Network has already seen passenger numbers grow by 5% since public control began to be rolled out just a year ago.