Tiger bus pass extended to March 2026 as mayor sets sights on permanent scheme

The Tiger pass scheme, offering £1 journeys for under 25s in Cambridgeshire, has been extended to March 2026 with options to deliver a permanent pass being worked on in the meantime.

The decision to extend the pass to the end of March 2026 was made by the Combined Authority Board today.

Since launching in May 2024, the scheme has seen over 45,000 passes issued and supported around 1.8million journeys. It gives young people a helping hand to get to education, training and employment, as well as seeing family and friends more affordably.

The pass will continue to apply to journeys within the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority area, and will continue to include some cross-boundary travel as under the current scheme.

Funding for the extension will come from a combination of the passenger transport operational reserves, forecast underspend from the concessionary fares budget and savings from ending the Combined Authority-funded £2.50 fare cap, which will cease from October 31 this year.

After 31 October, bus fares will revert to the Government’s national £3 cap, which runs to March 2027. It was originally intended to run until 31 December.

The forecast cost of the Tiger pass extension is £2.28million to the end of March 2026.

Mayor Paul Bristow has made securing a permanent version of the Tiger pass one of his early mayoral priorities. In the meeting, the board also called for a wider set of options on the permanent pass to be developed over the summer, to be presented to workshops for the Transport Committee and Combined Authority Board in the autumn.

Mr Bristow said: “When I was elected, I made a permanent reduced fare Tiger card a core priority. We’re now well on the road to delivering that. I inherited a scheme that was going to run out of money this autumn. Now users have certainty until April next year, while we, as a board, get the detail right on a Tiger pass that’s a permanent fixture of public transport in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

“At a time when every pound of public money needs to deliver maximum value, we had to make a choice on the fare cap, but I believe the difference the Tiger pass has made can’t be denied, and is exactly the kind of scheme we should be prioritising.”