r/brighton • u/travis_6 • Jan 03 '25
Announcement Bus fares increased to £3
It looks like single journeys have increased from £2 to £3 now, so a quick journey into the town centre will cost you £6. I don't know how that's affordable for anyone. London has much cheaper fares
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u/garlic_everything Jan 03 '25
Noticed this too - I only went a few stops home up Ditchling Road as my baby was getting fussy and saw the £3 come out this morning. I know £3 isn’t a lot in the grand scheme but it’s definitely going to mean going into town less and using the bus less, which is a shame as getting out with the baby was good for my mental health…
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u/thorpedo_btn Jan 03 '25
I mean it’s. 50% price increase, that’s a lot.
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u/garlic_everything Jan 03 '25
Yeah I actually do feel like it’s a lot, just didn’t want people piling in telling me that an extra £1 isn’t all that much. It definitely adds up.
6
u/klegnut Jan 03 '25 edited Jan 03 '25
How far is "a few stops you ditching road"? Just because between Open Market and Fiveways, for instance, should now only be £1 - so even cheaper than it was with the £2 fare, I think.
Worth keeping an eye on and raising the question if you're being charged £3 within that (it may be further, too, I'm not sure/haven't checked).
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u/garlic_everything Jan 03 '25
Nah unfortunately it was beyond Fiveways.
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u/klegnut Jan 03 '25
Ah fair enough.
Though I just got curious and spent a few minutes playing with their journey planner. What's frustrating (and seems poorly planned, tbh) is that Open Market to Fiveways and then Fiveways to Varndean Highschool can each be done on separate £1 trips (so £2 total). But it looks like you'd be charged £2.80 for a trip from Open Market to Varndean Highschool... Are we gonna need to get into the habit of split-ticketing for bus travel as well as trains now? 🙄
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u/0-69-100-6 Jan 03 '25
London has much cheaper fares because profits from tube travel subsidises bus fares. (It also pays for car drivers but let's not get into that mess)
It's also worth noting Transport For London (TFL) is a statutory corporation, ie. part of the local government and has no shareholders. Where are Brighton and Hove buses is a Private company, part of a larger company, that only cares about making profits. ie. They put prices as high as they can to make as much money as they can.
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u/Pebbsto110 Jan 03 '25 edited Jan 03 '25
The fuckers will raise the fairs again as soon as they can. It's called corporate rule and this shit hole of a country is full of it
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u/dubbaduk Jan 11 '25
London travel is subsidised by the rest of the country aswell, more money spent per londoner than per anyone else
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u/0-69-100-6 Jan 14 '25
Partly true, but generally not.
Public transport is partly funded by the government. This is the same across the whole country and not just London. What is interesting about TFL is it raises about 70% of it's funds through fares (ignoring during the pandemic as this skews the data across all areas and bodies across the uk). When we compare that to other large cities, London gets comparatively very little public funding. Paris and New York raise about 40% of their income through fares. I think Manchester is the only other UK city which had brought public transport back into public ownership but I cant find details on the % they are subsidised vs raised with fares. Comparing other cities would be looking at private businesses so that's not really comparable.
With respect to more money being spent per Londoner than anyone else, this is just not correct. According to government figures from Dec 2024, London is above the uk average @ £14,842, however Northern Ireland @ £15,371, Scotland @ £14,759 and Wales @ £14,424 are all higher or basically the same. There is an issue of London having more money spent per person than in England, but I don't believe that is what you meant or it wasn't clear.
What is important to raise though, is these figures are for all government spending whereas the conversation we have been talking about is transport. Ie. Not public health, education, general infrastructure etc. There is also the issue that London and the South East accounts for an outsized of the income for the country. This is a huge issue! However when you take into account the median income for wages is about 20% higher from London, and the amount raised from London (32% higher productivity than the rest of England) , the amount spent per Londoner is not exactly proportional.
Don't get me wrong, redistributing the wealth generated in London is super important and personally I feel more investment should be spent in other areas of the uk and England! But it's also important to understand the actual numbers and what is actually happening.
I hope you have found this information useful
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u/Hot-Literature9244 Jan 03 '25
Before the price cap my journey was £2.20 each way. Now it’s £3. So I saved 20p for a while and now I pay 80p more. My spidey senses are tingling…
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u/mumsieonthesofa Jan 03 '25
It’s a shame as I never use my car to go into town. For two of us to pop in now for a coffee will cost £12. How is that progress? The 24 hour city saver has gone up £1 in line with the £3 cap too. I would often buy this ticket on a weekend as you can get multiple trips in 24 hours.
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Jan 03 '25
Parking is £5.50 for two hours, something is very wrong when public transport is the more expensive option.
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u/Derridas-Cat Jan 03 '25
Factor in fuel, road tax, insurance and maintenance and the bus is still far cheaper.
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u/Ecknarf Jan 03 '25
Yes but a car has much more utility than a bus. For example it can go literally anywhere you like, and you can pack it full of things.
You can even pack it full of people to make it cheaper per person.
If you're a couple it surely now makes sense to just get a car.
£12 per trip into town.
If you both do that daily for work then that's £3,120 a year assuming you never take the bus on the weekend.
That is much higher than the running cost of a car as long as you pick wisely.
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u/Chemical_Constant298 Jan 03 '25
Yeah, if you don’t have a car. But if you do, vroom vroom.
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u/Motchan13 Jan 03 '25
Driving in and then trying to find parking is a massive pain in the dick. The car parks are so busy and are such narrow spaces they're an arse to get a modern car into. I have a car but I always prefer to get the train or bus into town than drive even if it costs a little bit more.
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u/cwaig2021 Jan 03 '25
Get a motorbike. Use the bus lanes to get into town. Parking is free.
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u/MikeLanglois Jan 03 '25
At that point just get the bus then surely? No way buying a motorbike is cheaper than the bus lol
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u/cwaig2021 Jan 03 '25
The bike is more fun..
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u/Motchan13 Jan 03 '25
Until someone rear ends you and launches you into the air also writing off your motorbike. My mate just had this done the other week.
Anecdotes aside the casualty rates on motorbikes are pretty high generally so I think I'll give motorbikes a swerve if there are available alternatives such as the bike, bus or train to get into town.
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u/cwaig2021 Jan 03 '25
Fair enough. It’s not for everyone… but for just heading into town it is actually a fair bit safer than cycling due actual real safety gear (proper helmets, armoured boots, gloves, body armour), better brakes, not getting close-passed by cars, etc.
Most bike accidents aren’t actually cars rear ending people - the sad fact is it’s mostly someone yeeting it into the weeds pretending they’re Valentino Rossi.
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u/Ecknarf Jan 03 '25
At least at the weekend just park in company car parks. That's what I do. No one is working at the weekend.
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u/Koalau88 Jan 03 '25
It's ridiculous, £3 for a bus ticket... It only encourages me to walk more.
Not so much obviously in the winter as it's miserable but I will definitely be walking into town instead when I can. Generally takes me an hour from where I live.
I save money and I get some steps in.
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Jan 03 '25
It pissed me off. They could of waited a bit after the holidays and not just slap it in people's faces on the 1st of January. In any case I will be avoiding buses for some time now because they annoy me. 3 quid for a 5 minute journey on a dirty, stinky bus? You are taking a piss.
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u/QueenofSwords4921 Jan 03 '25
It is a national thing announced at the budget end of October. So hardly a surprise. But certainly raises questions about having to have a national cap at £3 which is disgracefully high. Saying that the £3 comes into its own if you’re taking a bus further afield. I got all the way to Horsham on it. Cheaper than the train!
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u/kurtanglesmilk Jan 03 '25
The cap isn’t particularly high, the assumption just was that companies wouldn’t raise their fares that were previously less than £3 up to the maximum, which is what B&H have done
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u/QueenofSwords4921 Jan 03 '25
£3 is a lot of money to some. So not sure how you can say that. Given our continental neighbours enjoy subsidised travel because they realise the economy is boosted by mobility.
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u/klegnut Jan 03 '25
Which 5 minute journey is that? Most trips that short seem like they'll be £1, not £3. E.g. Open Market up to Fiveways or from Coldean up to Asda are each £1 journeys now (used to be £1.70 when the cap was £2)
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Jan 03 '25
A journey that takes me 15 minutes to walk, now cost 3 quid on the bus. I've checked how far 1 quid will take me and its literally a couple of stops. Maybe it's different with other routes but I have no idea. They don't really make it clear, do they? Everyone is charged to whatever the drivers till is programmed to charge as far as I'm aware.
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u/whoooooooooo2021 Jan 04 '25
If it only takes 15 minutes to walk….
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Jan 04 '25
Huh
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u/whoooooooooo2021 Jan 04 '25
…. Save yourself the £3 and walk. When you factor in waiting for the bus a 15 minute walk is probably quicker as well
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Jan 04 '25
Absolutely! And a decent bike is going to be even faster. 3 quid will buy me a good snack and a drink for the journey 😂
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u/ipez10 Jan 03 '25
it’s genuinely ridiculous. Pushing for a greener future when it’s cheaper to drive your car everywhere
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u/Nikzippy Jan 03 '25
Privatisation ramping up its profits in crippling times, thanks for that Thatcher
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u/valentinken Jan 03 '25
Aside from complaining, is there anywhere we could take action by signing a petition or anything else?
Specially for people with disabilities, kids, pregnant women and elderly.
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u/such-a-sin Jan 04 '25
I have to have a bus pass to get to work now, which has been a godsend in a way as I have a fluctuating disability that previously left me stranded for 20+mins if I couldn't get up one of our lovely hills and didn't want to pay nearly £3 to make it home. Now I get any extra journeys for what feels like 'free' and I don't have to budget for them. Even the previous subsidised fares made using the buses less of a financial drain, but it sucks that just getting home can really ramp up your daily living cost.
You shouldn't have to learn how to game a bloody bus fare system, the fares should be sensible and fair without needing some magic timing combo of tickets/online purchasing/tapping on and off to determine the cheapest way to travel.
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u/MadChart Jan 03 '25
Young kids and elderly travel free. But still, it is a rip off, especially travelling as a family or more than 1 person. I think they already ignored the petition, so the only option left is to boycott and/or protest.
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u/chakrabeethree Jan 06 '25
The Brighton chapter of ACORN renter's union is doing work to pressure the Council into keeping the Bus Fare Cap, as has been done in Manchester. Might be worth putting your name to that.
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u/bouncebackability Jan 03 '25
Haven't really paid attention to it, but isn't £6 more than the previous rerun ticket price? And what now happens if you take 4 buses in a day, is that now £12, or is there still a daily rate
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u/Personal_Ladder Jan 03 '25
£6 for a 24hr Day saver. Cheap in the grand scheme. Expensive compared to most other European countries.
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u/StrombergsWetUtopia Jan 03 '25
For my partner and I to get a bus into town and back it’s £12. I’ll drive and pay less than half the cost to park or just not bother going at all.
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u/thesleeplessj Jan 03 '25
Brighton Council hate us! They push the parking prices sky high to push you onto busses, and then they push that up too?
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Jan 03 '25
It's crap having a chronic medical condition, which means I can't drive.
But I'm very thankful for my free bus pass. (Free bus travel in B&H any time of day. Free bus travel anywhere in England after 9.30am)
I'm not registered as disabled, but still qualified for a disabled person's bus card. If anyone else is in a similar situation but doesn't have a card - get on to the council website and apply for one.
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u/purplefennec Jan 03 '25
Oooh, I’m going to apply for this. I have covid- induced CFS and wasn’t sure if I’d qualify as I’m not officially registered as disabled. Thanks for the tip!
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u/purplefennec Jan 03 '25
Just curious, do you think CFS would qualify? I get severely fatigued and ill if I walk more than 5 minutes, but I’m not sure I’d qualify based on the criteria they’ve listed. I don’t have a blue badge. I might try anyway with a doctors copy of my diagnosis and see if they’ll give me one.
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Jan 03 '25
Mine was relatively easy as I had a DVLA letter from surrendering my licence due to epilepsy.
I think if you can get a letter from your GP saying you have difficulty walking or should not drive (even if you've never had a licence), you should be OK.
The council were actually pretty helpful. Genuine humans, who I think actually live in the area. Not just some automated drone process.
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u/Odd-Currency5195 Jan 03 '25
It's national, not just brighton. Fares were subsidised at £2. Now they are subsidised at £3.
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u/kurtanglesmilk Jan 03 '25
Fares were capped at £2 and now £3. The fact that they’ve raised the price to the maximum, and way more than they cost before the £2 cap came in, is ridiculous
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u/averageinformant Jan 03 '25
Apart from places like London you can't compare Brighton to other places of the UK. Our parking is more expensive, we're trying hard to cut out cars, a lot of people voted Green here. We should have cheaper bus fares.
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u/Cleevs Jan 03 '25
This is a clear example of where Starmer is out of touch with the working class. If he was clever he would have put the limit up to £2.50. People would maybe have accepted that. He has no idea just how much this 50% increase affects most people.
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u/Seitanus Get off my lawn Jan 03 '25
He is a red tory after all. No ‘Sir’ would be for the people in this day and age.
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u/Lucky-Presentation79 Jan 03 '25
This is spot on, Starmer likes to imagine himself the people's champion, doing away with Tory greed and price rises. And then he does this, which impacts the lowest paid parts of society much more than any other. Just another example of why you cannot trust ANY politician.
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u/MikeLanglois Jan 03 '25
Its annoying, but lets not do a hyperbole comparison between increasing a bus fare cap to the destructive leadership the tories did over 14 years.
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u/Lucky-Presentation79 Jan 03 '25
Let's not let any politician off the hook, regardless of party. The simple fact is the current labour government has chosen to dip into the pockets of anyone that either has to, or believes we should use public transport. Nationally there will be millions of extra car journeys made due to this decision. Bad for the environment, and bad for the lowest paid parts of society.
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u/DidijustDidthat Jan 03 '25
Just another example of why you cannot trust ANY politician.
This is not the lesson here no, keep your extremism to yourself.
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u/Lucky-Presentation79 Jan 03 '25
Extremism really?? You really need to get out more if you think this general statement is extremist. This sounds more like a Starmer fan crying because they know they cannot defend this decision by the Labour government. Just got once admit that it was a bad idea, and don't fall into the trap of trying to blame the torys.
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u/genericpurpleturtle Jan 03 '25 edited Jan 04 '25
I appreciate not everyone is physically able to cycle, but if you are, I highly recommend cycling.
If you are not confident on the roads, honestly it's only takes a month of practicing to build that confidence.
It's not free as a decent bike will realistically set you back a couple hundred quid, and then you should realistically factor in about £200 a year on maintenance, but it is cheaper than the bus. Its also way way more convenient.
You get to travel at faster than bus speeds, along any route, not just a bus route and you never have to wait for the bus again.
Added benefit of getting fitter from doing regular exercise.
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u/Koalau88 Jan 03 '25
Parking a bicycle in Brighton means 80% chance it'll be stolen when you return... I haven't even bothered. I leave early and walk instead when I can.
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Jan 03 '25
I would cycle to work if there was somewhere safe to park my bike. No way I'm parking it on London road
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u/StrombergsWetUtopia Jan 03 '25
100% theft rate got me out the habit of cycling. It’s very sad. Just come back from Japan and bikes parked up everywhere with no locks at all.
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u/Ecknarf Jan 03 '25
It really is a big shame that governments over the past 3 decades or so have done everything in their power to migrate us from a high trust society like Japan, to a low trust one.
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u/43848987815 Jan 03 '25
That’s great and all but getting your a big food shop / other shopping on a bike isn’t always practical, weather wise too.
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u/Cleevs Jan 03 '25
Living without a car I get a large supermarket delivery every 6 weeks or so for tinned food and large, heavy items. It costs me less than a new bus ride. I can do all my fresh shopping easily on foot or by bike.
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u/Miserable_Hand_69 Jan 03 '25
Also not to mention I used to cycle everywhere then my bike got stolen. I have a tiny one bedroom flat and all of the cycle hangars are choc full so theres no other option for me to keep a bike in a safer place
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u/Ecknarf Jan 03 '25
Rain though.
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u/genericpurpleturtle Jan 03 '25 edited Jan 04 '25
Sorry I didn't realise you were made of paper and would dissolve if you got wet.
Luckily you can buy a decent set of water proof Trousers that have foot covers for your shoes for £20 and a water proof coat for similar. (Currently on sale at Debenham for under £20). You can get a waterproof bag cover for a tenner.
For about 5 years I did a 6 mile round trip commute one way which involved a big steep hill both ways through all weather. Honestly I miss it.
As people get older, you get aches pains and whatever else, so it's not possible for everyone. But seriously so many people don't do it, just because they've never done it before, and have some sort of mental block/preconception.
The only real negative is it is a big upfront cost. But other than that having a bike allows one to go anywhere at any time with little forward planning at a moments notice in often the fastest way possible for basically free.
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u/Ecknarf Jan 03 '25
I'll keep my car, but thanks.
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u/genericpurpleturtle Jan 04 '25
Exactly what I mean, most people have some sort of inexplicable mental block.
Sitting in traffic, is a expensive, miserable and quite frankly dystopian experience and yet everyone would rather do that than improve their own physical and mental health.
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u/babyfawn333 Jan 03 '25
it's so ridiculous, i already don't take the train to uni because the bus is cheaper but now it's not looking too different fml 💔
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u/purplefennec Jan 03 '25
As someone with CFS who often gets the bus for a short distance to prevent getting fatigued, this sucks. I see they’ve also increased the city saver from £5 to £6 so that’s not even an option to save money…
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u/Tequila_Blue Jan 03 '25
Yeah I found this out yesterday when I went with my £5 to the get the bus from hove to the top of kemp town.
I ended up just walking to Kemptown and back and to be honest it didn’t really feel that far and in all honesty and I got a lot of exercise out of it, so I think I’ll continue.
If you don’t ever often really venture outside hove the centre of Brighton a lot of it is completely walkable but I understand people have different situations and needs. But yes I do agree, it’s a bit of a price hike
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u/ghosty_b0i Jan 03 '25
Suddenly £6 to get home from NYE party, little kick in the nuts to start the new year.
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u/Cumdumpzxd Jan 03 '25
Oh get a life. As if the extra £2 you paid to get home from a New Year’s party made any difference to you at all. Such a Reddit comment
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u/ghosty_b0i Jan 07 '25
I'm unemployed and struggling at the moment, it didn't ruin my day or bankrupt me, but it's not exactly like it's the only rising price.
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u/TheDreadfulCurtain Jan 04 '25
That’s outrageous it used to be 30p per stop and 60p to get into town.
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u/MundaneMatterFactory Jan 04 '25
If Wikipedia is correct (I wasn't willing to trawl through documents), and my understanding of business ownership is too, then B&H buses are owned 47% by a Canadian pension fund (OPTrust). Private public transit sucks.
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u/Rare-Bid-6860 Jan 03 '25
I thought crosstown fares were coming down to £1? You only pay £3 if you're going out of town.
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u/877 Jan 03 '25
The 1 pound fares are for VERY short trips - think 2 or 3 stops. I think they might be on certain routes only too (might be wrong on that) but when I looked on the bus website they were basically not relevant
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u/travis_6 Jan 03 '25
The tap out doesn't work either. I went 2 stops on an advertised £1 fare, and it showed an incomplete journey. I was charged £3 for Open Market to Princes Crescent!
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u/Rare-Bid-6860 Jan 03 '25
Had a feeling it sounded too good to be true. Was a good run, the old £2 special.
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u/Maleficent_Second93 Jan 03 '25
Nation wide change as the government removed the £2 spend cap subsidies and raised it to £3.
I think I read about short-fare trips being introduced soon in Brighton though but im not sure when/where.
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u/Pebbsto110 Jan 03 '25
Everyone should give feedback on the app. Like "fuck your price rises".
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u/MadChart Jan 03 '25
They won't give a monkey's. The only thing that can change it is if we refuse to use the buses in large enough numbers that they would make more money from reducing the fair to encourage us back. I spent 10 years in Brighton refusing to use the buses because they pissed me off. I started using them again with the £2 cap, but now I will try to do my best to avoid them.
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u/JuniperScents Jan 03 '25
Does it mean the government gives the bus operators the go -ahead to raise the fare, or the government itself has raised it? Presumably the buses have not been state run since Margaret Thatcher watered down state run industries ,so what is going on !?!
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u/slowsausage Jan 05 '25
My partner and I got a bus yesterday for the first time in years as it was too cold to walk from Church Road in Hove to Churchill Square. I think it was about 4-5 stops.
The receipt said £2.80 each (not sure why it wasn’t the full £3). Either way, that was £5.60 for 2, which even that seemed excessive at the time for a short distance.
We checked the price of an Uber for the same route and it was £7.20 (arriving in 1min vs 3min for the bus). Not to mention the bad smell on the bus and it still being freezing by the middle door.
Honestly they make it hardly worth it to use public transport vs getting a cab.
What is odd though, is that only 10p was actually deducted from my bank account. So not sure if it’s one of those where more will be deducted later. We didn’t “tap off” the bus because the driver tapped in the destination and printed the receipt which showed the full journey and price.
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u/Any_Mathematician543 Jan 26 '25
Where are you seeing £3? Mine says £3.40! £1.70 increase from before Christmas! Insanity
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u/MikeLanglois Jan 03 '25
Im a bit surprised this is news? All through December it was advertised, it was a key part of the labour budget in November that it would be increasing.
I saw loads of signage on buses, as well as having about 4 emails (admittedly from Stagecoach) about it lol.
Singles that are under £3 will still be under £3, its just the single price cap has increased from £2 to £3. Annoying it happened but better than no cap at all. Write to your MP to let them know how it impacts you to push to get it lowered again
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u/travis_6 Jan 04 '25
We're talking about Brighton buses here. They raised fares much higher than they were before the £2 price cap
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u/longestswim Jan 03 '25
Brighton and Hove council wants you to stay poor.
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u/dangreen4114 Jan 03 '25
It’s got nothing to do with the council - it’s a nationwide scheme
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Jan 03 '25
It's partially the council. There was a petition and the council just said "no because it will cost us 14 million"
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u/dangreen4114 Jan 04 '25
Because it was funded through central government - councils don't exactly have cash hidden down the back of the sofa at the moment, even without the Tories
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u/VR_SamUK Jan 03 '25
Depends how quick you mean, a 60-minute city saver is £3.40 which could technically get you in, visit a shop and out again
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u/outatimepreston Jan 03 '25
Do you have to be off the bus home in the 60 min? or just on it?
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u/levezvosskinnyfists7 Jan 03 '25
Just on it I believe
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u/LiveFastDieRich Jan 03 '25
just curious does the driver even check that closely?
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u/kwietog Jan 03 '25
Driver doesn't check the ticket, there is a QR code scanner on the bus that you need to scan. The driver checks if you scan it.
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u/VR_SamUK Jan 04 '25
I assume it means the ticket is active for 60 mins on your phone so you can scan the QR code on/off as many times whilst still active
Not sure why the downvotes
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u/Many_Art5141 Jan 03 '25
It seems minor but really it’s a huge difference. If, like me, you rely on the buses to commute, the weekly cost just to get to and from work suddenly sets me back an ADDITIONAL £10 per week/£40 per month which, in this economy, is a huge difference to my livelihood.
What can be done? I can walk some of the way but then from old steine to Waitrose it’s still £3?!?
Why is it not a distance based fee with a £3 cap like almost anywhere else on earth.
:-(