Trivia: Where can you still buy a single for less than £2?

[py_megapixel]

The fare cap has resulted, perhaps predictably, in most bus companies now effectively having a flat fare system, even where some of their fares used to be less than the cap. This may be either a matter of official policy or simply because drivers are in the habit of issuing all tickets to the end of the route regardless of the passenger's actual destination. (As an aside, I'm curious about why this happens. Is it just to save time? Presumably the companies get a larger reimbursement from the capping scheme for longer-distance tickets, but it is surely not allowed to intentionally issue tickets for a longer journey than the passenger is making to take advantage of this)

My question is where in England can a full-fare-paying adult (so excluding child fares, student discount schemes etc.) board a bus of an operator which is participating in the fare cap scheme and purchase a single ticket that costs less than the cap amount of £2?

 

[The Albion]

National Express West Midlands issue a ' Short Hop ' fare. Generally for distances up to 1 mile, priced £1.50. Only to be paid by cash,exact change only, into the fare hopper.

 

[WibbleWobble]

Stagecoach's Cambridge station to city centre fare - £1 but to increase to £1.80 in a couple of weeks

 

[richw]

Stagecoach Plymouth, George park and ride to derriford hospital £1.50.

 

[HST43257]

First York tap on tap off is £1.40, certainly for short journeys, maybe even full length ones as well now

 

[CD]

First Buses of Somerset, all single fares within Taunton £1.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

First Potteries has adult single fares of £1.50 and £1.90. Available as cash, contactless and tap 'n' go. I always buy them under tap 'n' go so the driver can't pull the 'all fares are £2.00' trick. When the local 'affordable fares' initiative came in (as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan) they increased them from £1.30 / £1.70 respectively. An interesting interpretation of making fares more affordable I thought!

 

[route101]

Do Bluestar still do the single fare of £1 after 6pm?

 

[lewismachyach]

Nottingham City Transport still have a £1.50 short hop for distances of, I believe, half a mile or less.

 

[Hophead]

Metrobus has plenty of £1.70 short hop fares. This sees them undercutting TfL between Banstead & Sutton (though only by 5p).

 

[zero]

Luton airport bus A has some £1.40 and £1.60 fares but not particularly useful

Arriva Beds & Bucks A AntiClockwise - AD SGL fares – Bus Times

 

[HullRailMan]

Hull still has a short fare, was £1.50 on East Yorkshire and £1.80 on Stagecoach. The fare from the City Centre to the Royal Infirmary I think is now 50p (used to be 20p).

 

[lyndhurst25]

Transdev Keighley Bus have recently introduced a £1 flat throughout the town.

Sorry, we can't find this page!

www.transdevbus.co.uk

 

[Bread & cheese]

Reading Buses have some short hop fares, mainly at £1.60.

cheap singles

Find special single fares on your routes

www.reading-buses.co.uk

 

[busken]

Reading Buses have some short hop fares, mainly at £1.60.

cheap singles

Find special single fares on your routes

www.reading-buses.co.uk

Greenwave50 journeys within Green Park are free!!

 

[JD2168]

South Yorkshire has plenty of fares under £2. Fares on First & Stagecoach start at £1.40 on First & £1.50 on Stagecoach on shorter journeys.

 

[Adtrainsam]

First Essex still has a £1 fare for journeys within Chelmsford City Centre. It's not widely advertised anymore online, but it's definitely still there. You have to ask the driver for the £1 single instead of using 'tap&cap' which charges the standard £2 fare.

 

[cool110]

Lancashire has a local scheme that lowers the cap to £1 after 7PM.

 

[J.C.]

First in Halifax still have TOTO (tap on, tap off) fares under £2 for short journeys on 521/522/523.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Brighton & Hove have a £1.70 short hop fare.

 

[Flange Squeal]

With Stagecoach South, you can travel from Alton High Street to the Holybourne area on the edge of the town for £1.60 single on the 65, or in the other direction between the High Street and Community Hospital/Sports Centre for £1.80 single on the 64.

I’m not sure if this one will count, but if travelling between Kingston and Thames Ditton on Surrey operator Falcon Buses, the adult single fare is £3.20. If you have an Oyster Card though, if you show this to the driver you can travel for £1.75 single (I think their attempt at trying to attract Transport for London’s passengers if the Falcon bus is the first one to turn up as a continuation of Abellio Surrey’s Oyster Match scheme).

 

[CarrotPie]

When the local 'affordable fares' initiative came in (as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan) they increased them from £1.30 / £1.70 respectively. An interesting interpretation of making fares more affordable I thought!

More affordable for them, perhaps!

 

[dodecahedron67]

First York tap on tap off is £1.40, certainly for short journeys, maybe even full length ones as well now

Short journeys only

 

[nw1]

Do Bluestar still do the single fare of £1 after 6pm?

They did in the autumn, not sure about now.

 

[Geordie driver]

One of my neighbours went 4 short stops on an Arriva North East bus in Newcastle and it cost her £1.70, she couldn't understand why she could get to Berwick for £2 (60 miles) yet a few hundred yards had cost her so much.

 

[duncombec]

Arriva have a £1.10 fare for some journeys of one or two stops around Chatham - e.g. £1.10 between Chatham and Luton Arches... but then it bounces up quite significantly after that (at normal fares).

Until the most recent fares rise there was a post-7pm fare of £1.70 - apparently this still exists, just priced at £2, so in theory, it should remain at that price if/once the general fares cap is lifted.

One of my neighbours went 4 short stops on an Arriva North East bus in Newcastle and it cost her £1.70, she couldn't understand why she could get to Berwick for £2 (60 miles) yet a few hundred yards had cost her so much.

Of course, the correct question for her to have asked was "why did the journey to Berwick cost so little"!

 

[SSmith2009]

First Leicester service 14 has an adult single flat fare of £1.80 regardless of length travelling

 

[Parebunks]

I believe Oxford rail station to city centre is around £1.50 on all three companies that do it, though couldn't give the exact price. As far as Brookes University is £1.80 on Arriva, but I think £2 now on Oxford Bus and Stagecoach (possibly lower on Redline?)

 

[mikeg]

Not sure if this counts as not available as a paper ticket anymore, but Arriva Yorkshire costs £1.50 for less than a mile if using tap-on-tap-off.
Arriva Yorkshire Fare Changes

Our £1.50 single fare for travel within a mile will move to a Tap On Tap Off only fare.

Customers travelling within a mile can still purchase a ticket for travel from the bus driver priced at £2, but will save money by switching to Tap On Tap Off.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Stagecoach have a fare of £1.60 between Blackburn town centre and the hospital on service 59. Blackburn and Rosso (both Transdev) charge £2. Whether that
£2 is the capped fare, the normal fare, or I was just robbed by a driver not pressing the correct buttons I know not.