Mansfield MP welcomes £1.2m of Government funding to extend the £2 bus fare cap across the Nottinghamshire Council area

It is part of a £500 million investment to freeze bus fares nationally and improve vital local routes, ensuring passengers can continue to ‘Get Around for £2’, while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the sector.

The Government is investing £200m in extending the cap for single bus fares at £2 outside of London until October 2023, and then at £2.50 until 30 November 2024.

Although the initial cap – announced at the start of this year – was introduced as a temporary measure, the scheme has successfully encouraged many more people to use local bus services, benefitting local economies, supporting jobs, and helping passengers with the cost of living.

A further £300m has been announced to protect routes and services that are relied on for work, education, medical appointments, and shopping. As part of this, local transport authorities will receive £160m to improve fares, services, and infrastructure, while £140m will directly support operators in protecting essential services.

Coun Bradley said: “Really pleased Government is continuing to help people with the cost of living by extending the cap on bus travel. Bus travel is a vital resource for people to get to work and other activities and it is important to see that recognised in this announcement.

“This announcement comes on top of the £94 billion package of cost-of-living support already in place which has helped thousands of my constituents with things such as energy bills.

“Locally, I recognise many people have challenges with the reliability of the bus service and Nottinghamshire Council is stepping in to support that with £4m of subsidy to try to keep services on track. We’re also rolling out an on-demand service, including an evening service in Mansfield, to try to make our bus services sustainable for the future.”

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “Taking the bus is the most popular form of public transport and millions of people rely on these vital services every day.

“This half a billion pounds investment will help people save money amid cost-of-living pressures and continue to level up transport in all parts of the country, doing our bit to help halve inflation and grow the economy.”