Some operators offer slightly cheaper return tickets on shorter distances, such as Go Cornwall Bus in my experience.
Despite coming in before the national scheme, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority have said they’ve now aligned their scheme to the national scheme, and it will end/change at the same time
The bus companies will soon go bankrupt if they contemplate doing this, so I think it unlikely.
Absolutely this! To run a bus these days costs how much per hour? Then work out how many £2 fares you need to have!
That seems a sensible way out of this. After 2 years of the £2 fare removing the scheme completely would be a big step. From where I live into town about 7 miles away, before the £2 fare the day ticket at £7.90 seemed expensive. Due to fare increases during the last 2 years that day ticket is now £9.50. To go from a return fare of £4 to £9.50 could see a big drop in passenger numbers.
The only way it can be a benefit is with a hefty bung from the government to make up the shortfall. Apart from some very local urban routes with a high churn, a £2 fares cap is never going to be commercially viable – you would never attract enough extra passengers to bring in enough money to run the service, or heck even if you could somehow attract that many passengers, you wouldn't be able to fit them on the bus!
I like the idea of a long-term plan to keep bus fares at a more affordable level, but without necessarily having the same high cost to the public (and distorting effect on the market) that the £2 fares cap has ... but the question is, how do you define it? A maximum fare per mile? You would need to have a sliding scale, long-distance routes have lower per-mile costs than urban routes, and it would not work out so well for operators that charge higher fares but provide a premium service. Or 50% of the 2022 fares (adjusted for inflation)? Seems complicated to enforce, and what about routes that are new or in other ways substantially different from 2022? How do you decide what an appropriate level of subsidy is?
Why start with such a big jump?
I suspect the thinking is that £2 has been too cheap a starting level. It was originally planned to go to £2.50 as a first step following an introductory period.
In our area, a lot of young mothers (usually with a child in a trolley) mostly pay by cash. I must confess it surprised me, but I have seen this happen with my own eyes.
£2 to £2.50 would be a significantly less big jump than £2 to £4.10, which is my current non-capped fare...
That is why that people who run the NHS hospital appointment systems for out-patient appointments take utter delight in making 0845 or 0900 appointments for elderly people....
. (Free travel is not all-day).That would mean, in my area, people being charged £3.00 to go the three bus stops to the local shops, a distance that takes some time to walk.
I've edited my post to add the missing word "cap" (most people I know call it the "£2 fare", not the "£2 fare cap"!), but I think you knew what I meant...
It was less than £3.00, according to a neighbour aged 84 who has lived in this neighbourhood for years before moving to our six house development site.
A well argued post, but it hinges on the idea that there is a shortage of money for public services, which is nonsense (although, to be fair, a nonsense that virtually all political parties and media organisations have signed up to).
No reason it couldn't be tiered, and indeed open to more groups.