Bus Services: Students

(asked on 22nd May 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing bus fares for students aged between 16 and 19.


Answered by
Richard Holden Portrait
Richard Holden
Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
This question was answered on 25th May 2023

In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis, and decisions about offering reduced or discounted fares for commercial bus services are predominantly for operators to take. Many bus operators currently offer discounted travel cards for younger people. Our most recent set of statistics shows that operators in 70 out of 84 travel concession authority areas in England, outside London, offered some form of discounted travel for young people.

Policy for home to school transport sits with the Department for Education. However, the statutory responsibility for transport to education and training for those aged 16 to 19 rests with local authorities. This enables them to make reasonable decisions based on the needs of their population, the local transport infrastructure and the resources they have available


The Government introduced the £2 fare cap on 1 January to help passengers save on their regular travel costs and to help increase patronage on buses. This scheme was due to end on 30 June, however on 17 May we announced a further investment of up to £200 million to extend the current £2 bus fare cap in place on single tickets 1 July until 31 October. This will be followed by a longer term fare cap of £2.50 from 1 November 2023 to 31 November 2024


We are also investing in the bus sector to deliver the ambitions of the National Bus Strategy to make bus services more reliable and cheaper. We have allocated over £1 billion of funding for English Local Transport Authorities outside London to support the delivery of Bus Service Improvement Plans, some of which include the introduction of measures to reduce bus fares for young people. For example, the North East have recently introduced a £1 fare for single bus journeys for the under 22s.

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