Bus bonanza for West of England
Dan Norris, the Mayor of the West of England, has today announced his support for Mayoral Combined Authority proposals to:
• Freeze children’s bus fares at just £1, instead of rising to £1.30 – saving parents/carers up to £60 per child, per school year, in addition to the two months of free travel offered by Birthday Buses for under-21s;
• Extend Disabled Person’s travelcards so that buses are now free 24/7, rather than just after 9am;
• Extend care leavers’ free bus travel for another year;
• And cap the cost of multi-operator day bus tickets (valid on 11 different companies’ buses) in the region at £7, instead of that fare rising to £8.
As the saying goes, sometimes you can wait ages for a bus and then two come along at once. I’m delighted to today announce my support today for not one, not two, not three but four different proposed bus boosts turning up on time in the West of England in just three weeks’ time.
Dan Norris, the Mayor of the West of England
“Frozen fares for children, the extension of free travel for disabled people, an extra year of free travel for care leavers, and a cap for multi-operator day tickets will be great news for people across our region. This is only possible thanks to the £13.6 million of Bus Grant funding secured by my Mayoral Combined Authority for the coming financial year from the Government.
“These initiatives, alongside the enormous popularity of Birthday Buses will help keep more money in people’s pockets and help make it that bit easier for local people to get around by bus. That’s better for passengers, better for congestion, and better for our planet.”
Today’s announcement is subject to the completion of the final approvals process as agreed and delegated by committee in January 2025.
This package would start on 1 April 2025 and run until 31 March 2026. It would represent a £1.3 million investment from the Mayoral Combined Authority’s Bus Grant allocation and further funding from that of North Somerset Council: supporting more people to travel cheaply – or for free – and sustainably by public transport. It sits alongside the deal struck by Mayor Dan Norris with First Bus that kept fares for everyone in the West among the very lowest in the country.
Original press release by The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.
