In our post about the new Lakes Guide, we speculated that Stagecoach were planning a fares increase. Little did we know how quickly this would be confirmed! Ironically, we were congratulating the company on how much advance notice it was able to give passengers of changes to bus services over the summer in the Lakes. It appears that this has not been possible when it comes to the bad news about fares. Whilst some parties apparently received notice on 23rd February, with the change due to take effect tomorrow, details of the increases only appeared on the Stagecoach website in the last day or two.
Singles and Returns
Under the terms of the Bus Service Recovery Grant, which has been paid by government to compensate bus operators for the loss of revenue during the pandemic, fare increases are restricted to the level of inflation defined by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). In the twelve months to December 2021 the rise in CPI was 5.5%. It's not clear from the available information online but as Stagecoach last increased its fares in March 2019 its possible that the allowable increase would be based on the increase in CPI since then, which is 7.4%.
The new single and return fares apear to be on average roughly 8% above current levels, although due to rounding and other factors the increases vary from 5% to 12%
Here are some examples:
Lancaster Bus Station to:
Ridge or MarshCurrent: £1.70 single/£2.90 return.NEW £1.90 Single/£3.20 Return
Hala or University:Current: £2.20 single/£3.10 return NEW £2.40 single/£3.40 return
Hest Bank: Current £2.90 Single/£5 return* NEW £3.20 single / £5 return*
Morecambe : Current £3.80 single/£5 return* NEW £4.10 single £5 return*
Heysham Towers: Current £4.10 single £5 return* NEW £4.50 single £5 return*
* Day Rider ticket.
The new single and return fares can be checked by making an enquiry for the journey concerned on the journey planner section of the Stagecoach website, remembering to set the date of travel to on or after 1st March
Daily and Weekly Tickets
The average increase for tickets that give unlimited travel for a day or longer is lower, at about 6% with some prices being held.
Day Tickets
The Bay Area Day Rider price remains at £5, which means that the cost of longer distance return journeys within the area is also unchanged. The Under-19s version of the ticket however, increases from £2.60 to £2.80 (7.7%). The "Family" version (valid for 5 people, who need not be related and of whom two may be adults) goes up by 70p to £13
The Bay Plus Day Rider, which covers a wider area encompassing Kirkby Lonsdale, Forton and Burton-in-Kendal is increaed from £7.10 to £7.50 (5.6%)
Another ticket not increaseing in price is the Lancashire Day Rider All three versions of this tickets remain at their current prices of £4.80 (Under 19) ; £8.40 (Adult) and £17.50 ("Family") meaning that the cost of day trips to places such as Preston and Blackpool will not increase. As a reader of our Facebook page has pointed out, the price of these tickets is controlled by Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancs and was increased earlier in the year by a similar amount to the current rises.
Seven Day Tickets
For regular travellers, perhaps commuting to work or college, the seven day tickets offer significant savings over ordinary return fares and will continue to do so following the price rise.
The Bay Plus 7 Day Megarider increases from £23 to £24.30 (6.1%) Passengers who use this ticket to travel to and from Kirkby Lonsdale and the Lune Valley villages will, however, find that the price of a weekly ticket will reduce to £22 (whole route) or £18 (south of Caton Green) when Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire take over the service from 4th April.
Longer Period Tickets
Stagecoach currently offers 28-day versions of its mega rider tickets as well as continuous monthly subscription variants. There is no mention of these in the notice on the website, but if they are not being increased in price they will offer even bigger savings over seven day tickets than they do now.
Student tickets, such as the Unirider, are also not mentioned in the notice.
Commentary - and concerns
It is always disappointing when bus fares have to rise, especially as many passengers are at the lower end of the income range and can ill-afford to pay more. Bus operators are in a difficult position. The Bus Service Recovery Grant is due to finish at the end of March and although there have been hints that it might continue in some form this has not been confirmed. Passenger levels have still not recovered from the hit they received during the pandemic - and the pandemic itself is by no means over - meaning there is a delicate juggling act between needing to replace lost revenue by putting fares up and encouraging the missing ones to return by keeping them down!
Fares were last increased in March 2019 and in normal times would have gone up twice since then, not including the current increase. At an average annual increase of 8% (which would have been on the low side) a £2.20 fare would, after the latest increase and after "rounding up" would have become £2.80, rather than the £2.40 being charged from 1st March.
What is concerning, however, is that the present increase may be constrained either by the restrictions placed on bus companies in receipt of funding, or by the need to retain and increase passenger numbers. Once the restrictions are fully lifted and once sufficient passengers have returned, there may well be more rises planned, which is perhaps why the glossy and very professional "The Lakes by Bus" Guide contains details of ticket prices only accessible via a QR code, leading to an easily-updated web page!
