{
  "meta": {
    "title": "The £2 bus fare cap: what it did last time, and what has happened to buses",
    "standfirst": "From 1 January to 31 December 2027, single bus fares in England outside London will be capped at £2, down from the current £3 cap, backed by £400 million of extra government funding. The first £2 cap, in 2023, cut fares outside London by 9.1 per cent in a single quarter on DfT's fares index, and DfT's own evaluation found it added about 5 per cent to bus journeys at a cost of £210 million in its first ten months. This page sets out the cap's record, and the longer story it sits in: 3.67 billion journeys a year in England, 90 per cent of the level before the pandemic, and 28 per cent fewer bus miles outside London than in 2005.",
    "basis": "The cap limits the price of a single fare on participating services; it does not cover London, where TfL sets fares, and it does not cap day or weekly tickets. DfT's fares index tracks how fares change over time against March 2005 = 100; it is not an average ticket price, which DfT does not publish. Journey and mileage figures are DfT's for years ending in March. The latest annual figures are for the year to March 2025; the next edition is due in November 2026.",
    "sourceNote": "DfT Annual bus statistics, year ending March 2025 (revised March 2026) and Quarterly bus fares statistics, April to June 2026 (22 September 2026); DfT announcement of 22 July 2026; DfT evaluation of the £2 bus fare cap (February 2025); NAO Local bus services in England (June 2025); TfGM and TfL.",
    "capCostM": 400,
    "capDropPct": -9.1,
    "journeysBn": 3.67,
    "milesFallPct": 28.3
  },
  "announcement": {
    "eyebrow": "What was announced",
    "heading": "A £2 cap on single bus fares in England outside London, for all of 2027",
    "intro": "The government announced the £2 cap on 22 July 2026, and the Prime Minister restated it in his Labour conference speech on 29 September. DfT's statement says single bus tickets will be capped at £2 in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2027, replacing the current £3 cap, on participating services. It is backed by £400 million of extra funding, £454 million including the devolved governments' share, paid for by switching international climate finance in the energy department's budget from grants to loans. The speech's wording, anywhere in England, is broader than DfT's: London is not included.",
    "timeline": [
      {
        "date": "September 2022",
        "text": "Greater Manchester caps adult single fares at £2 locally."
      },
      {
        "date": "1 January 2023",
        "text": "National £2 single fare cap begins in England outside London, first for three months, then repeatedly extended."
      },
      {
        "date": "October 2023",
        "text": "Cap kept at £2 to the end of 2024; government spending on it reaches nearly £600 million."
      },
      {
        "date": "1 January 2025",
        "text": "Cap rises to £3."
      },
      {
        "date": "June 2025",
        "text": "Spending Review extends the £3 cap to March 2027."
      },
      {
        "date": "22 July 2026",
        "text": "£2 cap announced for 1 January to 31 December 2027."
      }
    ],
    "quote": {
      "text": "Single bus tickets will be capped at £2 in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2027.",
      "source": "DfT written ministerial statement, 22 July 2026",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/2-bus-fares-from-january-2027"
    }
  },
  "fares": {
    "eyebrow": "What the cap did to fares",
    "heading": "Fares outside London fell 9.1 per cent in one quarter when the £2 cap began, and rose 11.0 per cent when it went to £3",
    "intro": "DfT's local bus fares index for England outside London fell from 190.5 in December 2022 to 173.1 in March 2023, the quarter the £2 cap began, while consumer prices kept rising. When the cap went to £3 in January 2025 the index jumped from 185.9 to 206.4. In London, where the cap does not apply, the index moved differently. In the year to June 2026 fares in England rose about 2 per cent against 3 per cent consumer price inflation, and were flat in London, where the single fare has been £1.75 since March 2023. TfL says it is expected to rise to £1.85 after 1 November 2026.",
    "bars": {
      "ariaLabel": "Local bus fares index, England outside London, by quarter",
      "note": "Local bus fares index, England outside London, current prices, March 2005 = 100. Source: DfT Quarterly bus fares statistics, table BUS0415a (to June 2026). The index tracks change in fares, not an average price.",
      "rows": [
        {
          "label": "2019 Mar",
          "display": "176.2",
          "value": 176.2
        },
        {
          "label": "2019 Sep",
          "display": "179.6",
          "value": 179.6
        },
        {
          "label": "2020 Mar",
          "display": "183.2",
          "value": 183.2
        },
        {
          "label": "2020 Jun",
          "display": "183.7",
          "value": 183.7
        },
        {
          "label": "2020 Sep",
          "display": "184.2",
          "value": 184.2
        },
        {
          "label": "2020 Dec",
          "display": "184.3",
          "value": 184.3
        },
        {
          "label": "2021 Mar",
          "display": "184.3",
          "value": 184.3
        },
        {
          "label": "2021 Jun",
          "display": "184.3",
          "value": 184.3
        },
        {
          "label": "2021 Sep",
          "display": "183.2",
          "value": 183.2
        },
        {
          "label": "2021 Dec",
          "display": "183.7",
          "value": 183.7
        },
        {
          "label": "2022 Mar",
          "display": "187.2",
          "value": 187.2
        },
        {
          "label": "2022 Jun",
          "display": "189.4",
          "value": 189.4
        },
        {
          "label": "2022 Sep",
          "display": "189.8",
          "value": 189.8
        },
        {
          "label": "2022 Dec",
          "display": "190.5",
          "value": 190.5
        },
        {
          "label": "2023 Mar",
          "display": "173.1",
          "value": 173.1,
          "tone": "cap"
        },
        {
          "label": "2023 Jun",
          "display": "175.6",
          "value": 175.6
        },
        {
          "label": "2023 Sep",
          "display": "177.8",
          "value": 177.8,
          "tone": "cap"
        },
        {
          "label": "2023 Dec",
          "display": "178.8",
          "value": 178.8
        },
        {
          "label": "2024 Mar",
          "display": "179.9",
          "value": 179.9,
          "tone": "cap"
        },
        {
          "label": "2024 Jun",
          "display": "181.6",
          "value": 181.6,
          "tone": "cap"
        },
        {
          "label": "2024 Sep",
          "display": "185.7",
          "value": 185.7,
          "tone": "cap"
        },
        {
          "label": "2024 Dec",
          "display": "185.9",
          "value": 185.9,
          "tone": "cap"
        },
        {
          "label": "2025 Mar",
          "display": "206.4",
          "value": 206.4
        },
        {
          "label": "2025 Jun",
          "display": "210.5",
          "value": 210.5
        },
        {
          "label": "2025 Sep",
          "display": "213.6",
          "value": 213.6
        },
        {
          "label": "2025 Dec",
          "display": "214.2",
          "value": 214.18
        },
        {
          "label": "2026 Mar",
          "display": "217.0",
          "value": 216.97
        },
        {
          "label": "2026 Jun",
          "display": "217.9",
          "value": 217.92
        }
      ]
    },
    "cards": [
      {
        "v": "218",
        "l": "fares index outside London, June 2026 (2005 = 100)"
      },
      {
        "v": "184",
        "l": "consumer prices index, same base"
      },
      {
        "v": "196",
        "l": "fares index, London"
      },
      {
        "v": "£1.75",
        "l": "London single bus fare since March 2023"
      }
    ]
  },
  "evaluation": {
    "eyebrow": "Did it work?",
    "heading": "About 5 per cent more journeys, at a benefit to cost ratio below one",
    "intro": "DfT commissioned Frontier Economics and SYSTRA to evaluate the first ten months of the £2 cap. They found it contributed about a 5 per cent increase in bus patronage, out of a 13 per cent rise outside London between January and October 2023 compared with a year earlier, and cut the price of single tickets that had cost more than £2 by 27 per cent, though those were under half of trips. Spending was £210 million, 14 per cent under budget. The preliminary benefit to cost ratio was 0.71 to 0.9, before benefits the evaluators could not quantify; most of the gain went to people who would have travelled anyway. The National Audit Office found the cap achieved its aims of making journeys more affordable for lower income households and increasing bus use, but that the government repeatedly extended it at short notice, making it difficult for operators to plan. The NAO puts DfT spending on the national fare caps, £2 then £3, at £60m in 2022-23, £280m in 2023-24 and £276m in 2024-25.",
    "cards": [
      {
        "v": "5%",
        "l": "more bus journeys attributed to the cap, first ten months"
      },
      {
        "v": "27%",
        "l": "cut in single fares that had been over £2"
      },
      {
        "v": "£210m",
        "l": "spent in the first ten months"
      },
      {
        "v": "0.71 to 0.9",
        "l": "preliminary benefit to cost ratio"
      }
    ],
    "quote": {
      "text": "The scheme contributed approximately a 5% increase in bus patronage, out of a total 13% patronage increase outside of London from January to October 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year.",
      "source": "Frontier Economics and SYSTRA for DfT, Evaluation of the first 10 months of the £2 bus fare cap (February 2025)",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-2-bus-fare-cap"
    }
  },
  "journeys": {
    "eyebrow": "How many people use buses",
    "heading": "3.67 billion journeys in England, 90 per cent of the level before the pandemic",
    "intro": "There were 3,672 million local bus journeys in England in the year to March 2025, against 4,075 million in the year to March 2020, just before the pandemic, and 4,026 million in 2004-05. London accounts for about half. Outside London, the metropolitan areas have lost the most: 777 million journeys against 1,047 million twenty years earlier. Greater Manchester, where fares have been held at £2 since 2022 and buses brought under public control between 2023 and 2025, had 171.0 million journeys in the year to March 2025, against 189.7 million in 2018-19. About 28 per cent of journeys in England are made on concessionary passes.",
    "bars": {
      "ariaLabel": "Local bus passenger journeys, England, by area, years ending March",
      "note": "Millions of local bus passenger journeys, years ending March. Source: DfT Annual bus statistics, table BUS01a.",
      "rows": [
        {
          "label": "2005 London",
          "display": "1,802m",
          "value": 1802.49
        },
        {
          "label": "2020 London",
          "display": "2,091m",
          "value": 2090.56
        },
        {
          "label": "2025 London",
          "display": "1,821m",
          "value": 1821.48
        },
        {
          "label": "2005 metropolitan areas",
          "display": "1,047m",
          "value": 1047.34
        },
        {
          "label": "2020 metropolitan areas",
          "display": "846m",
          "value": 845.86
        },
        {
          "label": "2025 metropolitan areas",
          "display": "777m",
          "value": 776.59
        },
        {
          "label": "2005 other areas",
          "display": "1,177m",
          "value": 1176.54
        },
        {
          "label": "2020 other areas",
          "display": "1,138m",
          "value": 1138.46
        },
        {
          "label": "2025 other areas",
          "display": "1,074m",
          "value": 1073.92
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "services": {
    "eyebrow": "How much service there is",
    "heading": "28 per cent fewer bus miles outside London than in 2005",
    "intro": "A cheaper fare only helps if there is a bus to catch. Local bus services outside London ran 736 million vehicle miles in the year to March 2025, against 1,027 million in 2004-05, a fall of 28 per cent. Across England mileage was 89 per cent of its level before the pandemic. The fall has been steepest in some county areas: the councils below lost the largest share of their bus miles between 2009-10 and 2024-25. Government support for local buses in England totalled £3.0bn in 2024-25, of which £0.8bn reimbursed operators for concessionary passes.",
    "bars": {
      "ariaLabel": "Largest falls in local bus vehicle miles by council area, 2009-10 to 2024-25",
      "note": "Change in local bus vehicle miles, years ending March 2010 to 2025, council areas outside London with at least 2 million miles in 2009-10; areas reorganised since 2010 are left out. Source: DfT Annual bus statistics, table BUS02d_mi.",
      "rows": [
        {
          "label": "Stoke-on-Trent",
          "display": "-55% (7.0m to 3.1m)",
          "value": 55.27
        },
        {
          "label": "Shropshire",
          "display": "-54% (4.4m to 2.0m)",
          "value": 53.83
        },
        {
          "label": "Peterborough",
          "display": "-51% (5.6m to 2.8m)",
          "value": 50.97
        },
        {
          "label": "Darlington",
          "display": "-50% (4.8m to 2.4m)",
          "value": 50.22
        },
        {
          "label": "Milton Keynes",
          "display": "-50% (6.1m to 3.1m)",
          "value": 49.63
        },
        {
          "label": "North Somerset",
          "display": "-49% (5.0m to 2.6m)",
          "value": 48.7
        },
        {
          "label": "Luton",
          "display": "-49% (7.2m to 3.7m)",
          "value": 48.66
        },
        {
          "label": "Blackpool",
          "display": "-48% (4.7m to 2.5m)",
          "value": 47.98
        },
        {
          "label": "Slough",
          "display": "-47% (3.8m to 2.0m)",
          "value": 47.48
        },
        {
          "label": "Leicestershire",
          "display": "-47% (11.4m to 6.0m)",
          "value": 47.36
        },
        {
          "label": "Hertfordshire",
          "display": "-47% (19.4m to 10.3m)",
          "value": 46.68
        },
        {
          "label": "Telford and Wrekin",
          "display": "-46% (3.0m to 1.6m)",
          "value": 45.92
        },
        {
          "label": "Torbay",
          "display": "-45% (3.7m to 2.0m)",
          "value": 45.48
        },
        {
          "label": "North Yorkshire",
          "display": "-45% (13.0m to 7.1m)",
          "value": 44.89
        },
        {
          "label": "Medway",
          "display": "-45% (4.3m to 2.4m)",
          "value": 44.82
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "questions": {
    "eyebrow": "Questions this raises",
    "heading": "What the figures do not settle",
    "items": [
      {
        "q": "Does the £2 cap apply in London?",
        "a": "No. DfT's statement covers England outside London. London's buses are run by TfL, where the single fare has been £1.75 since March 2023 and is expected to rise to £1.85 after 1 November 2026."
      },
      {
        "q": "Does it apply to every bus?",
        "a": "It applies to single fares on participating services. Under the earlier caps, more than 130 operators and over 5,000 routes took part. Day and weekly tickets are not capped by the scheme."
      },
      {
        "q": "Will it bring passengers back?",
        "a": "DfT's evaluation attributed about a 5 per cent rise in patronage to the first £2 cap, alongside a wider recovery after the pandemic. Journeys in England are still about 10 per cent below their level in the year to March 2020, and fewer bus miles are run than in 2005, which a fare cap does not change."
      },
      {
        "q": "What happens after 2027?",
        "a": "The cap is funded for 1 January to 31 December 2027. No plan for 2028 has been announced. The NAO criticised the repeated short notice extensions of the earlier caps for making it hard for operators to plan."
      },
      {
        "q": "When will the figures change?",
        "a": "DfT's annual bus statistics for the year to March 2026 are due in November 2026, and the quarterly fares index for July to September 2026 in December. The first figures covering the £2 cap will be the fares index for January to March 2027."
      }
    ]
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "DfT, £2 bus fares from January 2027: written ministerial statement (22 July 2026)",
      "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/2-bus-fares-from-january-2027"
    },
    {
      "name": "DfT, Cheaper travel for millions with a third off fares (22 July 2026)",
      "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cheaper-travel-for-millions-with-a-third-off-fares"
    },
    {
      "name": "Andy Burnham's speech to Labour Party Conference 2026 (29 September 2026)",
      "licence": "Labour Party, quoted",
      "url": "https://labour.org.uk/updates/stories/andy-burnhams-speech-to-labour-party-conference-2026/"
    },
    {
      "name": "DfT, Annual bus statistics: year ending March 2025",
      "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-bus-statistics-year-ending-march-2025"
    },
    {
      "name": "DfT, Quarterly bus fares statistics: April to June 2026 (22 September 2026)",
      "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-bus-fares-statistics-april-to-june-2026"
    },
    {
      "name": "DfT, Bus statistics data tables (BUS01, BUS02, BUS04, BUS0415, BUS05)",
      "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus-statistics-data-tables"
    },
    {
      "name": "Frontier Economics and SYSTRA for DfT, Evaluation of the first 10 months of the £2 bus fare cap (February 2025)",
      "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-2-bus-fare-cap"
    },
    {
      "name": "National Audit Office, Local bus services in England, HC 949 (27 June 2025)",
      "licence": "NAO, quoted",
      "url": "https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/local-bus-services-in-england.pdf"
    },
    {
      "name": "DfT, £3 national bus fare cap guidance",
      "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/3-national-bus-fare-cap"
    },
    {
      "name": "Transport for Greater Manchester, Low bus fares evaluation",
      "licence": "TfGM, quoted",
      "url": "https://tfgm.com/data-analytics-and-insight/surveys-and-research/low-bus-fares/evaluation"
    },
    {
      "name": "TfL, fare freeze for buses and trams extended to 1 November 2026 (3 July 2026)",
      "licence": "TfL, quoted",
      "url": "https://tfl-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/londoners-encouraged-to-hop-about-the-capital-this-summer-as-mayors-fare-freeze-for-bus-and-trams-extended-until-1-november-2026"
    }
  ],
  "caveats": [
    "The fares index measures change in fares against March 2005 = 100, not the price of a ticket. Its quarterly series is not National Statistics, and the December 2025 and March 2026 values have been revised.",
    "DfT's release says the fare cap scheme has affected the fares index; the index itself does not separate the cap's effect from other fare changes. The quarterly movements around January 2023 and January 2025 are shown because they coincide with the cap's start and its rise to £3.",
    "The evaluation's 5 per cent patronage effect and its benefit to cost ratio are preliminary estimates for the first ten months of the first cap, and the evaluators note benefits they could not quantify.",
    "DfT's press release says the £3 cap runs until the end of March 2027, while its guidance page says the end of 2026; both agree the £2 cap starts on 1 January 2027.",
    "Journey and mileage figures for the year ending March 2025 are provisional and are revised in later editions. Local authority figures for areas reorganised since 2010 (such as Northamptonshire, and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) are not comparable over time and are left out of the mileage ranking.",
    "Greater Manchester's journeys are shown as DfT reports them for the combined authority; DfT's tables do not attribute any change to franchising or local fares, and neither does this page."
  ]
}