The Government has announced that single bus fares in England outside London will be capped at £2 from January to December 2027, replacing the existing £3 cap and backed by £400m in additional funding.

The measure could save millions of passengers up to a third off a single journey, supporting access to work, education, healthcare and leisure, and will particularly benefit longer-distance journeys in rural and coastal areas where fares tend to be higher.

Councils have broadly welcomed the move but are pressing the Government to go further on long-term funding and rural service provision.

Council reaction

Cllr Liam Robinson, chair of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Inclusive Growth Committee, called the cap a positive cost-of-living measure, but said Government must work with councils and transport authorities to build a sustainable long-term funding model for local bus networks.

Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, vice-chair of the County Councils Network (CCN), said the cap would make a real difference for county residents who rely on buses, and called for it to be made permanent.

She warned that rural areas still suffer from patchy, disappearing services, with the CCN finding almost a fifth of county services lost since 2018.

‘A new Government provides the chance for a reset. Future funding for bus services must be focused on those areas where bus services are disappearing, leaving many young people in particular stranded and unable to access employment and work,’ she continued.

‘Considering county and rural areas have distinct challenges, we would like to see a County Bus Strategy, aimed at overcoming these specific issues and improving service coverage.’