I meant 'no alernative' as in having to travel but having no access to a car and unable to afford a taxi rather than no rail service. As a previous poster said, even many of those who get free travel rarely or never use it.
The Rivington bus only ran during the summer. The only routes that run outside of the TfGM are the 640/641 and evening/Sunday journeys on the 635, ironically TfGM contracted services. I do wonder if the TfGM £2 fare extends to Wrightington Hospital in this case!
Wrightington Hospital is included in the £2 fare on TFGM tenders.
This will likely make a significant change to my travel habits. As I work shifts I can hardly get the train both ways from Harrogate-Leeds, yet buses run earlier and later. But I get free train travel and free parking in Leeds, so it's not really worth my while spending £7.50 on a single. Change that price down to £2, and all of a sudden it's become attractive to get the bus in and train home (or the other way round).
This certainly seems to be the case. The North West Surrey Bus Users Group Facebook page has this evening posted a message reading "Fear not, Falcon tell us they WILL be participating in the £2 single fare cap scheme running January-March 2023".
Just how many people will actually go to the gov.uk website to find out which bus operators are taking part in the scheme? Very, very few I expect. Most will find out from local news outlets and the bus companies themselves.
No doubt because it the legal identity that the funding from Central Government will be to. Another small operator not listed is Proctors/Dales & District.
And news outlets will, rightfully, post the information that is given. Most of the journalists these days can't even get a current photo of a bus onto their articles, they have no chance finding out the operating names of bus operators. The Mirror posted just the list from the DFT (https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/millions-2-bus-fares-three-28762283) (Not quoting as it's just showing that they posted the same list as the DFT. The DFT list is above)
And? Plenty of companies get funding from central government but don't get refered to by their legal name. When was the last time that Avanti was referred to by the government as First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Limited? It just doesn't happen (if it does happen, it's extremely rare). Government generally uses the operating name as that is what people know.
They’ve also missed out Go South Coast’s Salisbury Reds, Southern Vectis and Swindon’s Bus Company subsidiaries - all of which have news articles on their websites advertising the scheme!
It was a bit vague on the form, but I put the trading name, and it has duly appeared that way. I totally agree that the name familiar to the public should have been used (even @TheGrandWazoo missed the National Express West Midlands entry, which appeared under its legal idenitity) although the basic accounting unit was the Bus Service Operators Grant reference, and several operators with more than one O licence have multiple entries because of this. The information thus garnered appears to have been collected by an automated process for publication.
OK, that makes sense why Diamond would join, it must be a decent grant for not much changes.
Exactly, the PTE residents don't seem to understand how much of a big jump this is, even if only for 3 months.
It all depends on the passenger numbers I suppose - Transdev kept the £1 evening fare in Lancs after the trial because their buses were and are rammed in a lot of places in the evening.
If Greenline services are exempt, then confusion could occur with the 724 Harlow to Heathrow as its branded with normal Arriva buses
Is the 724 still a Greenline service? I thought it was just a normal Arriva service now? Surely the exemption is only the 755 and 757 routes and the £2.00 fares will be available on the 724 service?
It's still advertised on there website as a Greenline sevice
www.stagecoachbus.com
That isn't very good though for passengers nor the government really. The government claims over 130 operators have joined but it would look significantly better on them if they could claim over 200 operators were included (for example). For passengers, they will think that they are not eligible but they are, as you say. Not very good for anyone. You'd think that they would have sorted this so that they could brag about the huge amount of operators they have got on the scheme.
Not sure how much it helps but Morebus has done this list of services which are/aren't included in the scheme. Basically closed door services are not included nor 'Schoolday only' routes. There are 4 exceptions and this has been done to prevent capacity problems on the core route. OF course a key concern for operators and passengers. Having full and standing normal buses followed by a school bus right behind with no one on.
Excluded from the scheme.
Interesting that cross boundary services are included, but only for journeys that start in England. So a single from Carlisle to Dumfries will be £2 but a single going the other way will be £9.70 (though because a day ticket is cheaper than a single on that route, that would presumably be sold instead for £8).Stagecoach have published quite a detailed page on what they'll be offering
Never pay more than £3 single
Great value bus travel continues, with single journeys capped at no more than £3*
Another point of interest is Supertram isn't part of the offering which I know isn't a bus but would probably benefit from a flat £2 single fare!
Have you ever bought something because it's on 'special offer', then continued to buy it once it's returned to the normal price? That's pretty much what the intention seems to be here.