Bus fares

Fares increase on specific Essex County Council supported services from Saturday 1st April 2023

During the Covid-19 pandemic local bus fares for contracts where Essex County Council  control the fares were not increased at all. The contracts where we control the fares are called ‘Gross Cost contracts’.

From Saturday 1st April 2023, the fares of all our current Gross Cost contracts (which are listed in the table below titled ‘1st April 2023 Gross Cost Contracts’) are increasing in line with our Fees and Charges Policy which will be a 5.9% increase rounded to the nearest 10p. The reason for the rounding is so the fares are not sums like £3.14 which would cause more difficulty for passengers and bus drivers.

Normally, our fares would be increased by Retail Price Index (RPI) but as RPI is currently 13.4% at the time of writing, that is considered too high in line with the impact of cost of living so we have lowered the fare increase to 5.9%. As an example increased fare on a ‘£3 adult single’ fare before 1^st April 2023, this will become £3.20 from 1^st April 2023.

The Department for Transport’s (DfT) £2 single fare cap scheme remains in place until Friday 30th June 2023 for bus operators that are currently taking part. Please note that concessionary bus pass holders and Park and Ride users will not be affected by this change.

The routes that are affected by the above are detailed in the table below:

1st April 2023 Gross Cost Contracts