Two million Go-Ahead passengers take advantage of £2 fare cap

Credit: The Go-Ahead Group

The Go-Ahead Group has announced that its bus companies have carried two million passengers at the nationwide promotional fare of £2 since the UK Government began funding a scheme that caps the price of bus travel on New Year’s Day (1 January 2023).

Under the offer, adult single fares across England are no more than £2 for a three-month period, irrespective of distance. Funded with £60 million under the government’s ‘Help for Households’ programme, the initiative is intended to help the public with cost-of-living pressures during Winter 2023. As of 24 January 2023, Go-Ahead bus companies outside of London had sold over £4 million worth of tickets.

Participating Go-Ahead bus companies include:

• Brighton & Hove Buses and Metrobus
• Go South Coast – Bluestar, Morebus, Southern Vectis, Salisbury Reds and Swindon’s Bus Company
• Go South West – Plymouth Citybus, Go Cornwall, Go Devon and Dartline
• The Oxford Bus Company – including Carousel Buses and Thames Travel
• Go East Anglia – Konectbus, Hedingham and Chambers
• East Yorkshire Buses
• Go North East.

Reduced bus fares to be launched across England from 2023

Demand created by the scheme has allowed Go-Ahead bus companies to launch several new routes – including a new route from High Wycombe to Great Missenden run by Oxford Bus Company, and a Konectbus service in Norwich connecting the city centre with the Heartsease Estate.

Bus journeys available for £2 on Go-Ahead’s buses stretch geographically from Go Cornwall’s Route 34 from Redruth to The Lizard – England’s most southerly point – to Go North East’s Route 19, which links North Shields with Ashington, Northumberland.

Buses Minister Richard Holden MP launched the national scheme in December 2023 with a visit to Go North East’s depot in Gateshead.

Martin Dean, Go-Ahead’s Managing Director – Regional Bus, said: “The £2 fare capping scheme is the right idea at the right time, and we’re pleased that two million people have so far benefited from it on Go-Ahead buses. Buses are a great value way to get around, wherever you live in the UK. We’re keen to work closely with the Department for Transport and with other operators to promote this scheme, in order to get maximum benefit from it.”