So, if you have not been disheartened with Jeremy Hunt’s not a budget this week – then we have good news as many of the south’s bus operators have announced that they are putting up bus fares this side of the reindeer season. Multiple big bus groups are revising fares over the coming weeks.
You can find our other fares guides (because this one became long and meandering) for First Wessex & morebus.
First Bus
FirstGroup PLC owned First Bus are increasing fares across local brands:
Under the headline New Tickets, More Choice the Hoeford and Hilsea depots of First Solent are freezing single fares, but everything else is changing. There are new tickets available across the mApp and if you use the First Bus App then you might find that some of them are better than a season ticket for you now.
These new fares apply from 4th December.
Flexible Tickets – App
Firstly, as an alternative to the weekly and monthly season ticket, there are new tickets that allow you to travel a specific number of days, in a specific number of days. Confused? Let’s break it down:
- The 3 in 5 – You get 3 day tickets in the zone of your choice (Portsmouth, Hampshire or Eclipse) which you need to use within 5 days.
- The 5 in 7 – You get 5 day tickets in the ….. you get the idea.
Options go right up to 20 in 40; where you can use 20 day tickets in a 40 day period. For those in the Portsmouth zone, this is going to compare badly to the Stagecoach South multipack day tickets, where a pack of 5 is valid for 12 months.
On the Stagecoach Bus App, you can get a pack of 5 SolentGo Portsmouth zone digital ticket for £22.50 - Valid on Stagecoach AND First for the equivalent of £4.50 a ticket.... cheaper than a First Only offering.
It does not say however, whether this is from the day you buy the ticket, or from the day of the first activation of a ticket in the mApp (these are only available in the App)
Flexible Tickets – Bus
There is also a new 3-Day and 5-Day multi-day ticket available by cash and card from bus drivers. Presumably from the description it is a straight season ticket which is only permitted for 3 or 5 consecutive days.
2-Trip
Also available on the App is a new 2-Trip ticket which allows a 2 single trips. This is alongside the already available 10-Trip ticket, so I must admit I am not sure what the use-case would be for it, but that will be my short-sighted logic that I would by a 10-Trip for the bigger discount.
Changes to Existing Tickets
There are also changes to existing tickets as well, with many of them going up (but some going down) in price.
- Day Portsmouth tickets will increase to £4.90 for both mTicket and On bus
- Weekly tickets will increase for Portsmouth, Waterlooville and Hampshire – mTicket and On Bus will now cost the same in all three instances! Are First trying to ditch the App like GoAhead ditching TheKey?
- Monthly Unlimited tickets are increasing considerably – Hampshire from £77 to £95 a month and Eclipse £69 to £77.90
Return ticket prices are also changing. Essentially, if your current return ticket is £4 or less then it will get cheaper, but £4.50 and over will increase. At the most expensive end, a £7.50 return will now cost an eyewatering £9.40!
The full post from First Solent about fares is found on their website.