Soaring fares on rural buses

BUS fares in rural communities have soared at more than twice the rate of inflation, official figures show.

A Department for Transport report revealed almost 50 million fewer bus journeys were taken over the past year amid crippling fare rises, cuts to services by councils and rising levels of congestion.

Average bus fares in non-metropolitan areas in England rose 5.2 per cent in the year to March, more than twice the rate of inflation at 2.5 per cent over this period. Fares in London rose just 0.4 per cent.

In England outside London, fares rose 4.4 per cent. They were up 5.1 per cent in Scotland and 3.6 per cent in Wales.

In London, bus fares are set by Transport for London but elsewhere they are set by private companies.

Steve Chambers, at the Campaign for Better Transport, said: ‘Without a proper coach and bus investment strategy and funding to support it, we will witness the slow death of the local bus.’

A government report has also described traffic congestion as a ‘disease’ which could ‘destroy the bus sector’. It revealed that bus journey times have risen by almost 50 per cent over the past 50 years.