Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many bus journeys were charged to his Department under the £2 bus fare cap in January 2023; and what the cost to the public purse of those journeys was in that month.

Each bus operator participating in the £2 bus fare cap has been given a fixed reimbursement which was calculated using recent and historic data on ticket sales. Individual journeys are not charged to the Department, but as a condition of participating in the scheme, the operator agrees to sell all eligible single tickets for £2. This means that the scheme, which lasts from 1 January to 31 March 2023, has been delivered at a fixed cost to the public purse, and within a £60m envelope.

We do not yet hold information on the number of bus journeys made under the £2 bus fare cap in Cambridgeshire, however we have an ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation process in place to review the three months of the scheme so that we will be in position to understand the full impacts it has brought on savings, patronage and bus usage. It is anticipated that this will conclude later this year.