There has been much speculation in the media lately about the government introducing a compulsory cap on bus fares of £2 per single journey, although no official announcement has yet been made.
Under the schemes, adult bus fares for journeys wholly within Greater Manchester or West Yorkshire (but not between the two) will cost no more than £2 (child fares will be £1) for a single journey, whilst a one-day ticket for unlimited travel will cost £5 in Greater Manchester and £4.50 in West Yorkshire and will be valid on all buses.
So how would a national cap modelled on the Manchester scheme affect the cost of travel around Lancaster and Morecambe?
Who benefits?
For many local journeys it would make no difference. Single fares from the city centre to places such as Marsh, Ridge, Scale Hall and Bowerham are already below the £2 cap and would not be affected. Similarly, passengers making return journeys to or from Vale, ASDA, Lancaster University or Standen Gate who do pay more than £2 for a single ticket can buy a return for less than £4
Even passengers travelling farther afield, providing they make a return journey or use more than two buses to complete a journey, are unlikely to see a saving as Stagecoach's Bay Area Day Ticket at £5 is the same price as the proposed capped fare. Although the Bay Area ticket covers a smaller area than Greater Manchester it nevertheless allows travel as far south as Hampson Green and as far north as Silverdale at north of Carnforth as well as the whole of Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham.
The only passengers likely to make very substantial savings are those travelling a very long way. A £2 cap would apply to journeys to places such as Blackpool, Preston, Kendal, Keswick, Kirkby Lonsdale and Skipton and even paying another £2 to come back would still be cheaper than the present-day return fares, which range between £8.40 and £12 for these destinations.
Daily Commuters
Not Everyone Travels with Stagecoach
Stagecoach and Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire Buses. Could there be one ticket you could use on both? |
The Way Ahead?
If the scheme was too successful in attracting extra passengers to these services, which surely must be one of its objectives, the prospect of a £2 journey to Blackpool or Keswick on a nice sunny day could lead to overcrowding on buses and even passengers being left behind! Unlike Greater Manchester's scheme, which is intended to be permanent, albeit subject to review, the government's scheme is expected to be time-limited, which raises the question of how many of the extra passengers gained will continue to travel when their £2 fare suddenly becomes £12 again and therefore what the long-term benefits of the scheme would be.
On the other hand, the introduction of a £5 Day Ticket that was usable on every bus in the District, irrespective of operator, would bring immediate and lasting benefits to those passengers whose journeys require them to use both our local operators' buses. The Bus Users' Group called for this in our response to the consultation on Lancashire's Bus Service Improvement Plan, which is in the course of being implemented.
The proposal for a national bus fare cap has gone very quiet recently and no decision is likely to be made until the new prime minister and his or her cabinet are in place. Unfortunately, neither candidate for the top job has expressed any interest in buses, unlike Boris, who for all is faults will at least be remembered by bus passengers, at least in London for the replacement buses for the iconic Routemasters that now (unofficially) bear his name.
Boris Johnson and the "New Routemaster" London bus aka the "Borismaster" |