- Single fares frozen at £3.00 fare cap
- Unlimited bus travel from £3.32 per day
- Improvements in technology and network reliability.
£3 Single bus fares for travel around Cambridgeshire have been frozen, as the region’s largest operator works to encourage sustainability of the bus network, investments in new technology and more people to get out and about by bus.
The move to freeze £3 Single fares come as Stagecoach East reaffirmed that it will remain part of the government’s £3 single fare cap scheme throughout Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. Roughly 80% of bus passengers, across the region, currently pay single fares.
New fares have been announced, which will come into effect on Tuesday 1st September. Under the new prices, a 28-day Megarider will allow unlimited travel, in a Town Zone, for just £3.32 per day, and a 7-day Megarider costs just £3.89 per day. By contrast up to five hours parking at the Grand Arcade car park in Cambridge alone costs £26.80. Likewise, a Mocha coffee from Costa costs £5.20.
Multi-buy discounts are available through the Stagecoach App, offering 10% discount if you buy three DayRiders, 20% if you buy five, and 30% off if you buy 10 tickets.
Bus fares are supporting important investments in local network. For example, it was announced, last month, that new ticket machines are being introduced on all local buses. It is hoped that they will speed up boarding times, helping to improve journey times and reliability.
The results of such investment have been successful in improving reliability for customers. Stagecoach East now consistently runs over 99.1% of the miles that it is timetabled to run each week – many of the services it cannot run are due to external factors, primarily congestion.
Darren Roe, Managing Director of Stagecoach East, said: “Stagecoach has consistently delivered some of the lowest ticket prices in the country and we are committed to continuing to keep fares as low as possible for our passengers.
“As well as paying for the day-to-day running of the country’s vital bus networks, ticket costs help us to continue investing in improvements for our customers, and to pay our team what they deserve for the hard work that they put in day in, day out to keep our region moving.
“We are doing everything possible to absorb these cost increases and to help protect our valued customers at the same time as ensuring our own people receive fair pay increases to help them manage the significant cost-of-living challenges.
“That means that changing our fares to reflect the current climate is a necessity to ensure we can keep our services running and connecting communities across the country.”
From 1st September, the Town Zone cost of travel per day (unlimited) will be:
Day Ticket: Adult £6.80, Youth £4.80
7 Day MegaRider: Adult £3.89, Youth: £2.74
28 Day MegaRider: Adult £3.32, Youth £2.36
MegaRider Xtra: Adult £3.32, Youth N/A
Flexi 5: Adult £5.44, Youth £3.84
Flexi 10: Adult £4.76, Youth £3.36
Student Annual (per day): £1.77
Small Group (3 people): £3.33 per person
Large Group (5 people): £3.00 per person
The Plus Zone cost of travel per day (unlimited) will be:
Day Ticket: Adult £11.00, Youth £7.70
7 Day MegaRider: Adult £6.29, Youth £4.40
28 Day MegaRider: Adult £5.21, Youth £3.64
MegaRider Xtra: Adult £5.21, Youth N/A
Flexi 5: Adult £8.80, Youth £6.16
Flexi 10: Adult £7.70, Youth £5.39
Student Annual (per day) : £2.18
Small Group (3 people): £4.67 per person
Large Group (5 people): £4.40 per person
Darren added: “It is never an easy decision to change our fares, but we need to ensure the future financial security of the network and make sure that we are investing in the kinds of technology and service improvements that our customers rightly expect. The bus offers value for money that is unmatched by any equivalent mode of transport, so I would encourage local residents to get on the bus to meet friends and family, get to work and to explore our great region.”
— To find out more about local bus routes and services, and to track your local bus, you can download the Stagecoach Bus App from https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/national/stagecoachbusapp.