Catching the bus for children once the school holidays are over is getting more expensive Pic: Claire Pendrous
A number of changes to Preston Bus’ fares come into force from Sunday (24 July).
The cost of travel for a child to catch the bus increases for the first time in six years.
A child single increases to £1.20 from £1 on city services – although prices are frozen for adults.
During the summer holidays a promotional £1.20 child flat fare is replaced by a £1.20 child return. It runs from Sunday 24 July to Sunday 4 September.
Preston Bus has also announced changes to the fares on the 280 service between the city and Skipton it recently took into private ownership with no public subsidy.
It is putting up many fares on this Ribble Valley service by nearly 10 per cent.
The Preston Bus service replaced TransDev who were relying on a council subsidy
A spokesman for Rotala, the bus’ firms parent company, said: “Fares have been adjusted to improve the long term commercial viability of the service, whilst the prices of the PB Gold weekly and 4 weekly passes have been frozen.
“We still believe that our tickets and passes offer exceptional value for money for our customers.”
Read more: Preston Bus announces later services to and from city centre
The Preston Bus EasiDay Gold ticket will become £6.80 (Under 19: £4.50).
The adult and child Network Ribble Valley (currently £17.00 and £11.00 respectively) will be replaced by the Preston Bus EasiWeek Gold ticket, which offers travel on the complete route, as well as the Preston Bus City Network of services.
The Clitheroe Local Weekly will become £12.00 for adults and £10.00 for children.
Read more: Preston park and ride schemes remain despite cutbacks
The Family EasiDay ticket becomes £5.50 and a new adult return fare of £3.50 is being introduced.
Weekly tickets and fares look like this:
EasiDay for an adult is £3.75, an EasiWeek is £12 and an Easi 28 Day is £42
For children an EasiWeek is £10 and an Easi28Day is £33.
The fare changes are being introduced to enable continued investment in fleet renewal, our staff and new technology – according to the bus company.
Do you use Preston Bus services? What do you think of the fare changes? Do they affect you? Let us know in the comments below