Bus passengers told to expect price rise as £2 fare cap is set to be lifted

The Government has agreed to subsidise fares for passengers across England to ensure they pay no more than £2 for a single until the end of March.

It came after South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard capped bus and tram fares at the same price in November and December.

But many are now facing a significant price rise after the cap is lifted, as most operators, except First South Yorkshire, have decided to increase ticket prices by at least 7 per cent.

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority said it is considering three options: extend the £2 cap, encourage operators to “develop a range of options” for new fares or do nothing.

The organisation, run by Mr Coppard, said it is unlikely that it will keep funding the current cap, as that would cost £4.7m a year and there is already “significant pressure on the transport budget“.

Almost 1.9m trips were made over first two months after the cap was introduced in November, as operators were handed £810,000 of taxpayer cash to subsidise fares.

According to SYMCA, the scheme saved people money during the cost-of-living crisis, and it was particularly popular with those in the most deprived areas, but there was “no measurable uplift” in overall passenger numbers.

Last year, the organisation applied for at least £430m of Government funding to improve bus services, and it planned to use some of that money to lower fares over several years, but the bid was rejected.

West Yorkshire, which submitted a seperate bid as part of the same scheme, received almost £70m and Mayor Tracy Brabin has used some of the funding to cap fares on local services at £2, for three years.

It comes as passengers in South Yorkshire are being warned that more services could be cut in the coming months, as operators have been struggling with a drop in demand during the pandemic, rising costs and staff shortages.

The Government has handed operators around the country around £2bn to protect services during the pandemic, but the support scheme is due to end in March.

According to SYMCA, there has been a “vicious cycle of decline” in recent years, as people stop using buses because they are seen as unreliable and operators then reduce the number of services they run and cut investment due to falling passenger numbers.

Figures show the number of passenger journeys fell from nearly 115m in 2009/10 to just over 90m in 2018/19. That number plummeted during the pandemic and it is expected to rise to just 65m by 2023/2024.

Official figures show the number of bus cancellations more than doubled in South Yorkshire, between 2021 and 2022, rising from 8,304 to 23,986.

Over the period, the number of services which ran also fell by 18 per cent, to 838,969.