GovWire

The 2 bus fare capran from 1 January 2023 until the end of 2024 to help passengers save on their regular travel costs. It was replaced by a new3 bus fare capon single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January 2025 through to 31 December 2025.

The aims of this evaluation are to:

• find out the extent to which the bus fare cap achieves its aims of saving bus passengers money and encouraging greater bus usage
• understand how the fare cap is experienced across the country by bus users and non-users

The January 2023 report includes baseline trends from the period before the 2 bus fare cap scheme was introduced, including trends in bus usage and the cost of bus travel.

Observations from the first month of the 2 bus fare cap scheme include that:

• take-up of the scheme varied by region, rurality, household income and car ownership
• awareness of the scheme was high with national news acting as the main channel for raising awareness
• early evidence suggests a potentially positive impact on patronage and the cost of living

The February 2023 report includes observations from the first 2 months of the 2 fare cap scheme including trends in:

• patronage between early 2022 and early 2023, which appears to continue to recover following the COVID-19 pandemic (early evidence suggests the 2 Bus Fare Cap may be playing a role in this recovery)
• ticket sales, with an increase in the number and proportion of single bus journeys since the scheme started

The January 2025 report presents an evaluation of the impacts of the 2 bus fare cap over its first 10months (January to October 2023).

Frontier Economics and SYSTRA were commissioned to complete the evaluation on behalf of the Department for Transport.