A £2.50 cap on the cost of a single bus journey in the North East will stay in force until 2027, it has been confirmed, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Daniel Holland.
Mayor Kim McGuinness and council leaders backed plans on Monday that will see the price limit, which is set at 50p below the national rate, extended to the end of March 2027.
Proposals signed off by the North East Combined Authority (NECA) in Sunderland on Tuesday afternoon will also see the single bus tickets for young people aged 21 and under stay capped at £1 or at £3 for a day ticket which can also be used on the Metro and Shields Ferry.
The region-wide adult day rover will remain priced at £7.50 until that March 2027 end date, which Ms McGuinness described as an “absolute minimum”.
However, the cost of the Durham-only day rover bus ticket will jump from £5 to £6, the £6.80 Tyne and Wear day rover will be discontinued and the cheaper fares for young people will be limited only to those who have a Pop Blue smartcard.
NECA said that it needed to “control the costs” of its subsidised fares due to inflation and an “increased the risk of fraudulent purchase of young peoples’ fares”.
It currently costs the authority £32 million per year to offer the fare subsidies, which it said would jump to £37 million if the new restrictions were not introduced in 2026/27.
A report to NECA’s cabinet said that passengers had saved “well over £50 million” since the subsidised fare range was launched.
The national fare cap for adults jumped from £2 to £3 at the end of last year, a move that critics branded a “stealth tax”, before Ms McGuinness stepped in with funding to reimburse bus companies and keep the North East maximum at £2.50. Leaders in areas like Greater Manchester and Liverpool have gone further by maintaining the previous £2 cap.
Ms McGuinness has also pledged to take the region’s bus network under full public control, though it is expected to take until late 2029 for the first services to run under her Angel Network franchise.
She told Tuesday’s cabinet meeting: “The mayor’s fares have seen almost nine million more passengers choose to use the bus this year – we are bucking a national trend. That is massive, it is an 8% increase in bus passengers compared to the 1% we have seen in the rest of the country.
“Now that we have had more than 75 million mayor’s fares tickets sold right across the region, this is one of the vital steps we are taking towards a much bigger change.
“In too many parts of the North East, the bus services just aren’t up to scratch yet, especially in our rural areas. If you are in a village or a small town, you are just not as important to a bus company – it is as simple as that. The companies are more bothered about their profits, that is the honest truth, and we have to change that.
“So we are under way with the process of bringing our buses back under public control. We know that takes time but the work is happening and happening now and we know it will make a massive difference to the people of our region.”
Daniel Holland
Reporter for the Local Democracy Reporter Service.
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
