Bus passengers could face having to pay higher bus fares earlier than expected
People travelling on buses in Fenland could face having to pay higher bus fares earlier than expected.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has proposed to end the local bus fare cap early, to use the funding to extend the Tiger Pass scheme.
The scheme allows people under 25 to buy a single bus ticket for £1 if they get the free pass. Changes to the Tiger Pass scheme to limit who is eligible to use it have also been proposed to cut costs.
The Combined Authority previously agreed to subsidise bus fares in the area after the government announced it would be increasing the bus fare cap from £2 to £3 for a single journey.
The introduction of the local bus fare cap meant a single fare remained £2 for people in the area, which then increased to £2.50 in July.
The Combined Authority had said the local bus fare cap would remain until December, but a proposal has been put forward to end the cap on September 1.
A report presented to the authority’s transport committee today (Tuesday) said this would enable £1.4million saved from the bus fare subsidy to be spent on extending the temporary Tiger Pass scheme, which is due to run out of funding in November.
The proposal to use the money from the local bus fare cap could see the Tiger Pass scheme extended to March 31, 2026.
Cross-boundary journeys are also proposed to be removed if the scheme is extended.
Further changes have also been proposed to the Tiger Pass after March. These could limit the number of young people who are eligible to use it.
Cllr Sam Wakeford (Labour) said it was “not immediately apparent” to him from the report whether alternative ways of funding the Tiger Pass had been looked at, other than ending the local bus fare cap early.
Cllr Angus Ellis (Labour) said he wanted the Tiger Pass to be made permanent, but urged the authority to look at other ways to continue funding the scheme.
He said he did not want to see the Combined Authority’s decision to fund the local bus fare cap until December “reversed”, as he said this would impact people for whom buses are a “lifeline”.
Cllr Alex Beckett (Liberal Democrat) said they all wanted to save the Tiger Pass, but said he “struggled” with the funding option put forward.
He highlighted that the mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Paul Bristow, was also looking at possible ways to fund further free car parking in the area. He questioned if the proposals put forward were based on “political priorities”.
Cllr Beckett said the county council would need to see more information about the proposal before it could decide whether to support the plans.
Cllr Chris Boden (Conservative), chair of the committee, said they had limited options for funding the Tiger Pass, as the money had to come from revenue budgets and not capital funds.
He said he had spoken with the mayor, who had said that without the £1.4m the Tiger Pass would come to an end in November.
The committee agreed to support the extension of the Tiger Pass scheme, but did not recommend a way for this to be funded.
What changes could be made to the Tiger Pass scheme?
Councillors at the meeting raised concerns about potential changes to the Tiger Pass scheme, including the removal of cross-boundary journeys.
Cllr Beckett highlighted that many young people living near the borders of the county travel across the border for work and education.
He said it was “quite concerning” that if this change came into force in September, young people could see the cost of travelling on the bus “tripled” from £1 to £3.
Cllr Beckett asked if any assessment had been done to find out how many young people would be impacted by this change.
Officers said no assessment of this impact had been done, but that the report assumed there would be a 10 per cent reduction in journeys.
They explained that currently 42,000 people have a Tiger Pass and 1.8m journeys have been taken by people using the pass since the scheme was launched.
Cllr Alan Sharp (Conservative) said he represented the villages near Newmarket and was also concerned about this change.
He said his understanding of the change was that people would be able to use the pass to travel out of the county, but would not then be able to use the pass for the return journey, which he said raised logistical issues.
Further changes to the scheme are also being considered if it is made permanent after March 2026.
The report presented to the committee proposed to shift the aim of the pass to providing young people with access to education.
One option put forward included restricting the pass to those aged under 19, to focus on young people in post-16 education.
Another option was put forward to keep the pass for under-25s, but to restrict it to those in education or training.
The report said it could be considered to keep all under-25s eligible, but still proposed the reduction of any cross-boundary journeys.
Cllr Beckett said he agreed with the proposed aim to make the scheme a more sustainable, long-term public subsidy. He raised concerns about it being restricted to just those young people in education.
He highlighted that many young people could not afford a car and relied on public transport to get to work.
He said young people starting work were “the ones that still need affordable transport to get to those jobs and contribute massively to society”.
Cllr Wakeford echoed these concerns about the proposed focus on those in education. He raised the question of what would be classed as education, highlighting that some young people may not be in university, but may still be in training of some other kind. He also highlighted that supporting people into work is an aim of the government.
Cllr Katie Thornburrow (Labour) asked if the authority knew how many people using the pass at the moment were using it to travel to work, compared to those using it to get to education.
Officers said they did not have this exact data, but said they had the age ranges of pass holders and said some “assumptions” could be made around that.
Cllr Boden said it was not likely it would be possible to replicate the current eligibility of the temporary Tiger Pass in a new permanent scheme.
He said choices would therefore need to be made at some point about changes to the scheme to make it more sustainable.
The Combined Authority board is due to meet later this month, where it is expected members will be asked to consider the future of the Tiger Pass scheme, and decide whether to end the local bus fare cap early.
