Bus fare - How bloody much?!

[Sara_H]

Bus fares are extortionate here too.
Local trips around Carlisle aren't too bad, About £1 for a mile, and a saver ticket is only a couple of quid that you can use all day - but tbh if you're only going a mile or so do you need to take the bus??
When we lived in Wigton it was a ten mile trip to town, and it costs £6.50 for a "saver" ticket, £13 for a family ticket -which is good value, for 2 adults and 3 children but only after 9. The 9o'clock bus was a couple of minutes early once and they tried to charge me over £20 for the same journey - we got off and waited half an hour for the next bus!
If we wanted to go any further than the 10 miles we'd need a more expensive family ticket which was close to £20 last time I bought one though.
What really gave me rage was the cost of sending my daughter to school when we first moved here - £5.50 for a day return, and no child's weekly saver so I had to buy an adult pass for £22.
Eeh when I was a child it was 10p and you could go anywhere in Greater Manchester for that!

2p in Sheffield when I was a child - I remember it caused outrage when it went up to 5p, all child fares in South Yorkshire are a flat 70p.
I remember the adult fare was 10p - the same journey now is £2.40.

We live on the border with Derbyshire, where children pay half the adult fare. We got a bus into Derbyshire recently and the driver wanted to charge 70p to the border and the half adult price from there to our destination, which was more than the singe adult fare I was paying! Me " no you're alright, love. I'll just pay an for another adult single"!

 

[cd365]

How much does it cost for a 30 minute ride where you live?

I honestly haven't got a clue!

 

[Sara_H]

What really gave me rage was the cost of sending my daughter to school when we first moved here - £5.50 for a day return, and no child's weekly saver so I had to buy an adult pass for £22.
!

Similar situation with my step son who lives in Nottinghamshire but goes to school just over the border in Leicestershire, it's only seven miles but it works out cheaper to get a monthly adult pass than pay for child fares.
We were trying to encourage him to ride in, but his Mum didn't like the idea and we are now told he's "lost" his bike.

 

[Arch]

The tram into Manchester from NT's is £2.60 return, the bus £4.00. The bus takes longer, and diverts here there and everywhere. We usually get the tram (30 mins), but had to get the bus recently when there was a broken down tram.

The train is best value of all, about £2.50 return, and you're there (Manc Victoria) in 10 minutes. But the trains only run once an hour, whereas the trams are every 12 mins, so they are more flexible.

The bus would be a last resort.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Bus companies are robbing buggers!

Most local bus routes are subsidised by the local council who set the the fares.

 

[Sara_H]

The tram into Manchester from NT's is £2.60 return, the bus £4.00. The bus takes longer, and diverts here there and everywhere. We usually get the tram (30 mins), but had to get the bus recently when there was a broken down tram.

The train is best value of all, about £2.50 return, and you're there (Manc Victoria) in 10 minutes. But the trains only run once an hour, whereas the trams are every 12 mins, so they are more flexible.

The bus would be a last resort.

In Sheffield we don't have return tickets, only singles or day passes, which means its often cheaper to buy two singles.

They also used to do a hop on/hop off ticket, where you could get off and on along your route. Sadly this ticket isn't available anymore - a great shame as if you need to get off along the route home you end up having to buy another single and doubling the cost of the journey.

 

[Cush]

I've got a bus pass

So have I and I use it (also rail pass but that is getting expensive unless you use it a bit)

 

[classic33]

2p in Sheffield when I was a child - I remember it caused outrage when it went up to 5p, all child fares in South Yorkshire are a flat 70p.
I remember the adult fare was 10p - the same journey now is £2.40.

We live on the border with Derbyshire, where children pay half the adult fare. We got a bus into Derbyshire recently and the driver wanted to charge 70p to the border and the half adult price from there to our destination, which was more than the singe adult fare I was paying! Me " no you're alright, love. I'll just pay an for another adult single"!

5p Adult fare, kids well we paid half fare, so it worked out at 2p!. That was doing a dogleg run. Bus route doubled back on itself as part of a larger route.

 

[welsh dragon]

I have no idea how much bus fares are now. We only have 2 busses a day here in rural wales. That's why everyone has to drive.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

The child single fare was £2.50, £4.90 for an adult.

Maybe I'm spoilt. I think these are outrageous pices for a 30 minute bus ride.

OK - I just took £4.90 x 2 from £13.00 and divided the remaining £3.20 by 2 to get £1.60

Whichever way you look at it it's just over £3 per person to cart them a reasonable distance imo.

Still a lot quicker than walking up the Cleveland Way though.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I have no idea how much bus fares are now. We only have 2 busses a day here in rural wales. That's why everyone has to drive.

That's precisely two more/day than us.

My London dwelling S-I-L is constantly banging on about people using cars. When she came up here 3 years ago she decided to make a point and walk to town for some groceries. We advised her against this but she is stubborn. A 5 mile round trip later with aching arms, soaking wet clothes and nerves on edge from being buzzed by motorists on the busy narrow lanes she got the drift. She doesn't moan at us anymore.

 

[welsh dragon]

Only a five mile trip. It's 9 miles just to get to town, let alone to come back.

 

[Herbie]

Am I allowed to say boody in the title?

Anyhoo. Being the cruel wicked step mother that I am I have just forced my lovely boyfriend, son and step son to go on a car free camping holiday to Robin Hoods Bay.

We got the train to Scarborough and then bus to RHB. OH says I went visibly pale when bus driver told me the price of the fare from Scarborough to RHB for 2 adults and 2 children - £13!!!! This was for a day saver family ticket, and the driver proudly told me I could go all the way to newcastle with it. Brilliant, except I only wanted to go 30 minutes up the coast to RHB.
The single fare for an adult was £4.90, for 30 minutes on the bus!! Is this the most expensive bus fare in Britain?

We had planned to do quite alot of roving up and down the coast, but hadn't planned on the bus fares being so expensive, so we didn't bother. We had a nice walk to Whitby from RHB one day, The bus fare back was £11.40, so we opted for a taxi at £10.20!

And people wonder why the public at large are so attatched to their cars.

How much does it cost for a 30 minute ride where you live?

I find prices for public transport a big rip off in general...where I live in Aberdeen you are £5 for a return trip of 4 miles....and they want folks to ditch their cars....no chance when they charge that

 

[compo]

I caught the bus to the football match yesterday,i normally cycle, walk or drive but i was planning on having a few pints before and after the match so i got myself a return ticket ticket at £4.20 for a 6 mile there and back journey. I noticed that around 50% of the passengers didn't pay as they had bus passes. In my opinion the fares are high to pay for the ones who don't pay. Nothing is for free and someone has to do the paying for the ones who don't pay.

There are several routes that only continue to run because of the bus pass subsidy the bus companies receive. When the next government restricts bus passes to just the very poorest pensioners the subsidies will go down and you will see routes becoming uneconomic to run and being withdrawn.

 

[Hill Wimp]

A season ticket for me to commute to London including the underground but not the High Speed trains is currently £4500. If i added up all the costs of petrol and keeping a car to do the same journey and all the time it would take against the train. It would actually cost far more.

A one off or short term ticket always sounds like it costs a fortune but in the long term it really doesn't.