Bus Fares Up Again

I see Arriva has quietly increased its bus fares. If petrol had gone up, motorists would be march - sorry, driving - on Downing Street and there'd be more than a hint of revolution in the air.

Bus fares go up - and there's not even a mention in the press, let alone a peep out of the bus passengers. Not sure what the average increase is - and admittedly some fares have increased - but some increases are quite steep. Highest I've found so far is Longhirst-Morpeth return which has gone up 11%

And this all at a time when we are supposed to be switching too public transport

Then again - the buses are full of older passengers taking advantage of the free travel for over-60's. This is going so well that Arriva has renegotiated their deal with Castle Morpeth BC, and is getting an extra £70,000 to cover the cost of concessionary travel. It's a great scheme - but the funding from central Government to local authorities doesn't really cover the costs.

Bus Fares Up

I see bus fares have gone up (by around 5%) - for the second time since Christmas. That makes around a 25-30% increase in the last two and a half years.

Public transport seems to be more about 'conspicuous consumption' than 'social inclusion'.

Let's just see how much of a protest we get - compared with the screams we get from car-drivers when petrol prices go up.

Incidentally....
LGA research shows that bus subsides in England amount to about £2.5 billion pa and that the bus operators are making super-profits out of subsidies and concessionary fares, with a bigger return on capital investment than in any other sector (including water, electricity and gas). See current DfT consultation