Bus £2 fare cap extended for three months

The £2 headdress connected autobus fares has been extended for 3 months pursuing warnings that hundreds of services could beryllium chopped if it ended.

The headdress applies to much than 130 autobus operators extracurricular London.

It had been owed to expire connected 31 March, but has been extended until the extremity of June.

Bus operators person been struggling to support work levels successful the look of rising costs and rider numbers not recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

The headdress was introduced partially arsenic a outgo of surviving measurement but is besides meant to promote radical backmost connected to buses.

"Getting much radical onto reliable and affordable buses volition fortify communities and assistance turn the economy," said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Up to 15% of services could person been scrapped without further funding, the Confederation of Passenger Transport, which represents autobus and manager firms, said earlier this month.

During the pandemic, the authorities provided £2bn to enactment autobus firms, who supply the astir fashionable signifier of nationalist transport successful England.

The authorities said the hold for autobus fares would beryllium backed by up to £75m successful funding.

The cities of Manchester, Liverpool and West Yorkshire - each of which person Labour mayors - person already introduced £2 caps arsenic portion of longer-term schemes.

The authorities said a further £80m would beryllium made disposable to enactment captious autobus services successful England, arsenic portion of a wider package.

"We're providing £155m to assistance passengers prevention wealth connected fares, get much radical connected the autobus and support captious autobus routes - helping with the outgo of surviving and enabling radical to get wherever they request to successful an affordable and convenient way," said Transport Secretary Mark Harper.