£2 bus fare cap extended by three months in Cambridgeshire with £1m Combined Authority subsidy

Bus fares in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will be capped at £2 for a single journey until the end of March 2025 after the Combined Authority agreed to fund its three-month extension at the cost of around £1million.

The cap was introduced nationwide by the previous Conservative government and was due to end on December 31. The new Labour government has confirmed a cap will continue in the new year, but will rise to £3.

However, the board of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority agreed last Friday (13 December) to subsidise the continuation of the £2 scheme using an underspend of bus improvement funds, which needs to be spent this year.

Cllr John Williams (Lib Dem, Fen Ditton and Fulbourn), a representative from South Cambridgeshire District Council, said the cap had helped passenger numbers for some services return to pre-Covid levels but noted other services were still “very fragile”.

A reduction in passengers due to fare increases could prompt some commercial services to be reduced or withdrawn, he argued.

In such cases, the Combined Authority would “have to pick up the cost of replacing services”, which could add up to more than £1m, he suggested.

Cllr Anna Smith (Lab, Coleridge), representing Cambridge City Council, agreed it could be a “false economy” not to spend the money if services were later cut or reduced.

She described it as a “preventative measure”.

Cllr Angus Ellis (Lab, Park), a representative from Peterborough City Council, said it would “encourage use of public transport over the private car, keeping journeys affordable”.

Cllr Anna Bailey (Con, Downham), the Conservative leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, said it was important to make public transport services “attractive” by making the fares “accessible and low” but pointed out that cuts and changes meant some passengers “cannot even access services” the subsidised fares.

She argued: “I think we should be spending the bus service improvement money on improving bus services.”

Cllr Chris Boden (Con, Whittlesey), leader of Fenland District Council, said people in Fenland who were “paying significantly more money” through the mayoral precept this year to fund bus services were seeing “significantly worse bus services”.

The precept was trebled this year by Dr Johnson, so that an average Band D household now pays £36 a year to the Combined Authority, which is being spent on bus services.

Cllr Boden highlighted specific changes to services and said he accepted these were choices made by bus operators, but said the Combined Authority has “failed to make choices” to step in and help.

He said while he “very much supported keeping bus fares down” he said it was “difficult” to support the subsidy to keep the £2 cap when there was “not a bus service for people to use”.

Judith Barker, executive director of place and connectivity, highlighted that the majority of the bus network in Cambridgeshire was run by the private sector.

She said a bus operator only had to give 70 days’ notice to change a service, which made it “very challenging” for the Combined Authority to respond.

She accepted that not all of the bus services meant to be funded through the mayoral precept were up and running.

Ms Barker said “over 60 per cent” were, but explained the authority had “been placed in a difficult legal position” and were “seeking specialist advice”.

The mayor said subsidising bus fares to keep them capped at £2 was “part of a bigger picture” of plans to try and improve the bus system in the area.

The subsidy was approved by a majority of board members, who agreed that any consideration on extending the fare cap beyond March 31, 2025 would form part of the 2025/26 budget setting report in January.