Preston Bus – Fare Revisions from 1st January 2026 19/12/2025

From 1st January 2026, Preston Bus will be updating its fares.

We know any fare increase is unwelcome. We have worked hard to avoid this, but these changes are needed to protect services and keep the network running reliably.

Why are fares changing?

There are three main reasons:

Lower than anticipated reimbursement from the Department for Transport for the National Bus Fare Cap (NBFC).

The national funding available has not matched the real revenue impact of capped fares in Preston.

An abnormally low outcome on concessionary reimbursement (ENCTS) locally for NOW Card users.

The level of reimbursement depends on the fares that would be charged in the absence of the national fare cap, however this has led to an unusually low reimbursement outcome for Preston Bus at a time when commercial fares have been held down.

Significant cost pressures earlier in the year.

We increased the new starter rate of pay for drivers by 18% to ensure we are fully staffed and able to deliver reliable services.

As a result, we are being forced to withdraw from the National Bus Fare Cap and implement revised fares from 2 January 2026. This is the only realistic route available to us to stabilise the business and protect services over the medium term.

Our commitment to customers

We will continue to:

protect the network wherever possible
maintain reliable day-to-day services
work with LCC and other partners to reach a more sustainable long-term solution

The Adult single flat fare within Preston will be £3.50. The single fare for under 19’s will rise to £2.80.

The £1 evening and Sunday fare cap, funded by the Lancashire County Council Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), will not change. This means that any single journey starting after 1900 hours or at any time on a Sunday will still be just £1.

In order to get the best value fare – use Tap and Go. We will automatically charge you the best value ticket for your journeys and the amount you pay will be capped at £6.50 per day or £27.50 per week.

Save More with Day and Season Tickets

From 2^nd January, we’ll also be adjusting the prices of our day tickets and season tickets, to ensure that we can continue to operate a sustainable and comprehensive network in Preston. We encourage customers who make more than two journeys per day in Preston to switch back to our EasiDay or Return tickets, offering better value than the two single fares.

Journeys in a day	Recommended way to pay	Total paid for the day
1 journey	Pay for a £3.50 Single Ticket on your bus – the simplest way is to tap your contactless card or device	£3.50
1 return journey (on services 8, 16, 19, 19A, 23, 31 only)	Pay for a £4.20 Return ticket on your bus - the simplest way is to tap your contactless card or device on every bus and be capped automatically at £4.20	£4.20
2 + journeys	Pay for a £6.50 Adult EasiDay ticket on your first bus or as an mTicket from the Preston Bus app. The simplest way is to tap your contactless card or device on every bus and be capped automatically at £6.50	£6.50

From 1^st January 2025, our Under 19 EasiDay ticket will be £5.20 and our Group EasiDay ticket (up to 5 adults) will be £10.00.

How to save even more

Regular travellers can save even more by purchasing one of our EasiWeek or Easi5Day or Easi10Day tickets on the Preston Bus app. Our prices from 1^st January will be revised as follows:

Adult EasiWeek – unlimited travel on the Preston Bus network within Preston for seven consecutive days. Available on bus, from our Travel Shop or via the Preston Bus app.	£27.50
Under 19 EasiWeek – unlimited travel on the Preston Bus network within Preston for seven consecutive days. Available on bus, from our Travel Shop or via the Preston Bus app.	£22.00
Adult Easi28Day – unlimited travel on the Preston Bus network within Preston for seven consecutive days. Available from our Travel Shop or via the Preston Bus app.	£98.00
Under 19 Easi28Day – unlimited travel on the Preston Bus network within Preston for seven consecutive days. Available from our Travel Shop or via the Preston Bus app.	£79.00
Take 5 – bundle of 5 single tickets to be used within 28 days. Only available on the Preston Bus app.	£17.50
Take 10 – bundle of 10 single tickets to be used within 28 days. Only available on the Preston Bus app.	£35.00
Easi5Day – bundle of 5 Adult EasiDay tickets for the price of 4 to be used within 28 days. Only available on the Preston Bus app.	£26.00
Easi10Day – bundle of 10 Adult EasiDay tickets for the price of 7 to be used within 28 days. Only available on the Preston Bus app.	£45.50

Members of our Corporate Travel Club will continue to enjoy at least a 10% discount on tickets via the app. Not in the Corporate Travel Club? Find out more here.

Lancashire County Council tendered service fares

Some single fares on Lancashire County Council supported services (including 43, 44, 48, 65, 66, 66S, 67, 69, 114, 311, 312, 319, 347) will be increased, please speak to your driver.

The week tickets, valid on all Lancashire County Council supported services will change in price as follows:

LCC Adult Week £19.00
LCC U19 Week £15.00

No other fares on LCC services will change. For more details, please visit the County Council’s website here: https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/roads-parking-and-travel/public-transport/paying-for-your-journey/

Portway Park and Ride

To help cover the costs of operating these services, from 4^th January 2026 the fares will be:

Adult return (Portway to City Centre) £2.50
Adult return (Portway to RPH) £4.20
Group return (Portway to City Centre) £3.50
Child return (Portway to City Centre) £1.00

Concessionary bus passes (NoW Card) will continue to be valid.

All other Preston Bus tickets and passes are valid from Portway Park and Ride, and car parking will continue to be free of charge to bus users.

What isn’t changing

There will be no changes to the following tickets:

Single fares for everyone after 7pm and all day on Sundays and public holidays – these continue to be capped at £1 funded by the Lancashire Bus Service Improvement Plan.
Student Term tickets for Cardinal Newman College, Preston College and UCLAN for terms 2 and 3 will be priced in line with prices set earlier in the year.
Tickets and fares on our dedicated school bus services 663, 664 (Fulwood Academy), 959, 961, 963 (Corpus Christi), and 401 402 433 437 995 (Myerscough College).

For full details of our Fares and Tickets, visit https://www.prestonbus.co.uk/ticket-and-fares/