Bus fare discount extended until end of year

Bus passengers in Lancashire will be able to enjoy a discounted fare for longer than previously planned after the date it was due to end was pushed back until after Christmas.

The flat £1-per-journey fare in operation of an evening and all day Sunday across much of the county had been set to come to a stop on 13th September when it was scheduled to double to £2.

The Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) devolution body concluded back in June that it could no longer afford to subsidise the scheme for passengers travelling after 7pm Monday to Saturday and anytime on Sundays and bank holidays. 

However, since the LCCA took its decision, the government has announced it will lower the nationwide bus fare cap from £3 to its previous £2 level from 1st January.

The move has now prompted the Lancashire authority to extend its £1 offer through to New Year’s Eve, so that all the price changes come into force at the same time.  

Not all Lancashire operators are taking part in the local scheme amid claims that it is not financially viable for them to do so as a result of the level of reimbursement they receive. Preston Bus withdrew from the initiative in April, while Blackpool Transport partakes only in the Sunday and bank holiday element, not the evening offer.     

However, for those services where the £1 fare is offered, Cllr Phil Riley – chair of the LCCA’s transport advisory board – said it made sense to rethink when to remove the offer in light of the lowering of the national cap.

“It was obviously an opportunity to not have a fee increase…[and] why would we put it up if we didn’t need to?” he asked at an LCCA meeting on Tuesday. 

“The circumstances had changed from when we discussed it…so it seemed a perfectly reasonable decision to make.”

The move was agreed as an item of urgent business over the summer before being announced last week.

As the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed was set to be the case in July, consideration was given as to whether the reduction in the national cap could have enabled Lancashire’s £1 evening and Sunday rate to be retained.

That is because the difference between the two fares largely determines how much the LCCA has to reimburse bus firms for their involvement in the county initiative. The national fare cap falling to £2 would have halved the local subsidy needed for the Lancashire evening and Sunday £1 fare, as a greater proportion of it would have been covered by the government’s nationwide policy – but the LDRS understands it would still have exceeded the available budget.

In contrast, LCCA chief operating officer Matthew Sidgreaves told members that the cost of extending the £1 rate until the turn of the year could be met from existing funds.

“Clearly [it’s] simpler messaging for…passengers and is good news for users and businesses right through until the end of the year, including the Christmas period,” he said.

The LCCA had previously heard that the £5m annual cost of delivering the scheme – under which 3.5 million £1 journeys were made between April 2025 and March 2026 – had become “unaffordable” and that a more than £1m shortfall was looming should it continue until next spring.   That was as a result of rising expenses and a reduction in bus grant funding.

The £1 evening fare was introduced in Lancashire in January 2023 before being extended to all day Sundays and bank holidays around 18 months later.