Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram has announced that bus passengers will soon be able to travel across the Liverpool City Region for no more than £2 per journey in a bid to help residents save money during the cost of living crisis.
By 18th September adult single fares on all services will cost a maximum of £2, making it cheaper for passengers to travel across the region.
The cost of a MyTicket, which allows young people under the age of 19 to benefit from all day unlimited travel on the region’s bus network, will also remain frozen at £2.20 until 2025.
Steve Rotheram said: “More than 400,000 journeys are taken by bus in our region every single day yet, far too often, people tell me that they’re still too expensive, too confusing and too unreliable.
“With the cost of living crisis placing more and more pressure on households, we’re using the power of devolution to bring the price of a single bus ticket down to its lowest level in years – putting money back into the pockets of our residents.
“This is just a down payment on my wider ambitions for our region’s buses. I’m working to take back control of our network, so that we can reinvest any profit we make back into our public transport system – putting passengers before profit.”
The new single adult fare – which is part of the Mayor’s wider plans to revolutionise the public transport system – will mean that some passengers will see a saving of up to 13% versus the current cost of their journey.
Plans are also underway to simplify the region’s often-confusing ticketing system under a ‘tap and go system’ that would allow for greater freedom and flexibility with passengers guaranteed to always pay the cheapest fare.
Earlier this year the Liverpool City Region took an important step towards the major reform of its buses after local leaders voted to confirm franchising as the preferred model for running the network – a landmark move that would reverse the industry’s deregulation in the mid-1980s.
The new reduced and simplified fare has been agreed with bus operators in the Liverpool City Region for an initial three-year period. It is being funded by the £12m Bus Services Improvement Plan (BSIP) allocation, secured by the Mayor and Combined Authority from government earlier this year.
Following the confirmation of this funding from Department for Transport last week, further investment is now being sought to help realise ambitious plans for the region’s bus network. Improvements local people have asked for include additional evening and weekend services, better integration with the wider transport network and more zero-emission hydrogen buses.
Aligned to the region’s Vision for Bus, this latest round of investment is a key part of Mayor Rotheram’s pledge to reform the region’s transport by building a London-style system that will make travelling around quicker, cheaper, greener and more reliable.
