Fares slashed in drive to draw people onto buses
Bus fares across Bath are being slashed from Sunday and will be much more affordable, the Metro Mayor Dan Norris has announced.
All single adult tickets in the city will be reduced to £2 for adults while returns will cost £3.50 from September 25.
Outside of the city there will also be sizeable cost reductions for adults with a 12-mile single journey dropping from £6.50 to £3.70 and a return from £7.50 to £5.
Children will pay a flat £1 rate across the whole of the West of England. The new fares will apply on the vast majority of West of England buses before being introduced across all routes, regardless of operator, by the end of next month. In Bath they will be:
■ Bristol and Bath single fare – drops from £2.20 to £2;
■ Bristol and Bath return fare – drops from £4.30 to £3.50;
■ Bristol and Bath 3-stop hop – raised from £1.50 to £2;
■ Bath Day – drops from £5.60 to £5;
■ Bath Week – drops from £22 to £21;
■ Child fare, West of England wide (age 5-15) – drops from 50 per cent of adult fares to £1;
■ Child fare, West of England wide (age 5-15) return drops from 50 per cent of adult fares to £1.80;
■ Student fares – 25 per cent discount.
According to Mr Norris, the new fare package will help towards easing the cost-of-living crisis, and will go a long way to addressing the big challenges on the buses at present, with passenger numbers 25 percent down on pre-pandemic levels.
“I’m delighted to be able to introduce this package immediately to offer a small helping hand to people facing a crippling cost-of-living crisis.
“At a time where the challenges on the buses are so huge, this is a real opportunity to create that virtuous cycle of more fare income to reinvest in our bus network which in turn will mean better buses for everyone. So my big message to local people is: please take advantage of this and take your children out for just £1.
“The more journeys you make, the more you will be helping us together to build the local bus system we both need and deserve.
“It’s also vital if we are going to meet our super ambitious local 2030 net-zero targets”.
The scheme is a joint initiative from the West of England Combined Authority, Firstbus, Stagecoach West and others.
Doug Clarinbold, managing director of First West of England said: “We hope this will encourage more people to use our services so that as we take action to increase driver numbers and improve the reliability of our services, we can accelerate the recovery in bus use across the region”.
Rachel Geliamassi, managing director of Stagecoach West, said: “We look forward to working with Mayor Norris and the Combined Authority to ensure this initiative supports the long-term sustainability of the region’s bus network, which is vital in connecting communities with jobs, education and skills, as well as friends, family, and essential public services”.