OPINION: Bus fare rise may be unfair but it is necessary compared to the alternative

Friday’s announcement about nBus ticket prices increasing from 15th June came as a bit of a surprise to me, and has prompted a lot of angry responses on news articles and social media posts.

First of all, I do think it was a bit underhand to give passengers only two weeks notice of these price increases, and I do sympathise with anyone who is affected, but as we shall see, it’s not the end of the world, as the alternative would have been far worse.

TfWM, NX Bus and Diamond Bus news releases all pretty much hinted at the same thing – “rising costs”. And it is important to realise this is a valid reason, and not just some ‘lame excuse’.

In recent years bus operators were put under pressure to ‘keep fares frozen’, a promise made by our now former Mayor Andy Street. Since the Covid pandemic in 2020, and the Ukraine incursion in 2022, energy and fuel prices have risen significantly, as well as inflation, which has seen many products and services increase in price.

The stark reality was that everything was going up in price, but bus fares weren’t. With passenger numbers still below pre-pandemic level, in ‘real-terms’ ticket revenue was decreasing.

It wasn’t until July 2023 when bus fares increased for the first time since 2017. And at the same time, operator-only tickets were scrapped, with the multi-operator nBus offerings becoming standard issue. Although the single-fare increase was masked by the Government’s £2 fare cap, all that happened in reality is that operator-only day/week/month tickets increased to align with TfWM’s own nBus tickets.

Fares did increase again last year in June, due to ‘rising costs’, so clearly there is a pattern emerging.

Current Mayor Richard Parker launched a public consultation on bus franchising at the start of the year, with a bold promise that he could ‘take back control’ of fares, routes and timetables, whilst bemoaning having to pay £50m to bus operators in order to maintain current service levels.

Already this year, we’ve seen Arriva have to make changes to its 9 service between Bridgnorth and Wolverhampton to try and keep it commercially viable. And Diamond’s 125 service from Bridgnorth to Stourbridge was only saved after some intervention from Shropshire County Council and TfWM. Finally, Staffordshire County Council stepped in to save the 5 service between Codsall and Wolverhampton, when Banga Buses pulled the plug as it was no longer commercially workable – a service previously withdrawn by NX Bus for the same reasons.

There are a number of service changes taking place from today (Sunday 1st June 2025), as NX Bus attempt to alter services to keep them viable, while reflecting current passenger usage.

While I can’t say any more at this time, expect some further service changes to take place in July 2025 as one notable operator intends to hand back some contracts to TfWM.

Clearly the fare increases are necessary, as without the increased revenue, more commercial services would become unviable, with the alternative scenario being that many bus services would see frequency cuts, while other less-frequent and lesser-used services would have to be withdrawn altogether.

Nobody likes it when bus fares increase, and some people will be more affected than others. For me, my monthly direct debit increases to £64, up from £59. I don’t like it, but I can at least tolerate a £5 increase.

For context, my monthly direct debit was actually £61 back in 2021. And of course, I could only use my pass on NX Bus services back then, while it is now valid on all operators services.

The following month saw it reduced to £50, as bus fares were slashed in price to encourage passengers back following the end of the Covid lockdowns in the UK. It then of course increased to £55 in August 2023, and then again to £59 in August 2024.

Since 2021, I’ve seen most monthly expenses increase significantly in price, be it rent, council tax bills, energy bills, water bills, broadband bills, grocery shopping etc etc. Strangely, the cost of bus travel is the only one that decreased! And only now will it exceed what I used to pay four years ago.

Unfortunately many people have ‘bought in’ to the hype around bus franchising and believing it will mean ‘cheaper fares’. Ultimately, whether the buses are run deregulated as commercial ventures, or run under franchised contracts (or even as authority-owned ‘municipal’ operations), the costs to operate the services will stay the same, if not increase further, so there is no way – in my opinion – that bus franchising will see reduced fares, not without some hefty subsidy, because if the ticket revenues aren’t there, then the funding will have to come from somewhere else, mainly through increased council tax bills or added mayoral precepts.

As for other comments about “awful unreliable services” and “the buses run when they want to”, well again franchising isn’t going to magically solve this, and believe it or not but commercial businesses would very much like to pick up passengers and earn revenue.

While fare rises are unwelcome, and I appreciate that a lot of people are unhappy about this, given the choice between a fare increase, or a vast reduction in services, I know which one I’d prefer.

At the end of the day, I can’t do anything about fare increases, but all I can try and do is educate people about getting the best value for money when it comes to bus travel. If you regularly travel by bus, then look at weekly or monthly tickets, rather than buying day tickets every day. And unless you only make one journey a day, buying a single ticket each time will be expensive! And if you’re travelling together in a group or family, then a Group day ticket is much better value than buying individual day tickets.

I already know a lot of people will disagree with what I’ve written here, but this is my opinion, and we have to be realistic about the current situation that all bus operators are facing. Franchising is still two years away, and if the commercially-operated bus network is struggling in its current form with revenues being received, then it doesn’t really bode well for any future franchised network. In the meantime, difficult decisions have to be made, such as increasing fares or making revisions to services to keep them sustainable.