Preston Bus confirms participation in the £3 Fare Cap Scheme for 2025 16/12/2024

Preston Bus confirms participation in the £3 Fare Cap Scheme for 2025

Preston Bus is pleased to confirm its participation in the Government’s £3 single bus fare cap, which will run from 1st January 2025 until 31st December 2025.

As part of this new scheme, the cost of an adult single bus journey will remain affordable at £3 on all Preston Bus services.

This new cap price reflects the price a single fare would have been had the £2 fare cap not been in place, aligning with fare changes introduced during 2023 and 2024 to address inflationary pressures.

The single fare for under 19’s will rise to £2.50 which reflects their new standard rate without the £2 fare cap.

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 £5.50 per day or £24.50 per week.

Save More with Day and Season Tickets

From 1^st 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 under the new cap.

Journeys in a day	Recommended way to pay	Total paid for the day
1 journey	Pay for a £3.00 Single Ticket on your bus – the simplest way is to tap your contactless card or device	£3.00
1 return journey (on services 8, 16, 19, 20, 23, 31 only)	Pay for a £3.70 Return ticket on your bus - the simplest way is to tap your contactless card or device on every bus and be capped automatically at £3.70	£3.70
2 + journeys	Pay for a £5.50 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 £5.50	£5.50

From 1^st January 2025, our Under 19 EasiDay ticket will be £4.40 and our Group EasiDay ticket (up to 5 adults) will be £8.90.

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.	£24.50
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.	£20.00
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.	£86.00
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.	£69.00
Take 5 – bundle of 5 single tickets to be used within 12 months. Only available on the Preston Bus app.	£15.00
Take 10 – bundle of 10 single tickets to be used within 12 months. Only available on the Preston Bus app.	£30.00
Easi5Day – bundle of 5 Adult EasiDay tickets for the price of 4 to be used within 12 months. Only available on the Preston Bus app.	£22.00
Easi10Day – bundle of 10 Adult EasiDay tickets for the price of 7 to be used within 12 months. Only available on the Preston Bus app.	£38.50

Members of our Corporate Travel Club will see their 28 day tickets rise to £81.00 (£75.60 on direct debit). Not in the Corporate Travel Club? Find out more here.

Lancashire County Council tendered service fares

Single fares on Lancashire County Council supported services (including 25A, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 65, 66, 66S, 67, 69, 76, 78, 114, 311, 312, C4) will also be capped at the new £3 fare. Fares for some shorter journeys will be less than £3, please speak to your driver.

The day tickets, valid on all Lancashire County Council supported services will either be reduced or frozen:

LCC Day Adult £6.00
LCC Day U19 £4.00
LCC Day Duo £10.00
LCC Day Group £16.00

No other fares on LCC services will change. For more details, please visit the County Council’s website here.

Fares on Football Special services 287 and 289

Our Preston North End Football Special services are a great way to get to the ground on Deepdale Road. Services operate from Lea and Cottam/Tanterton to every home game – more details here.

The only matchday tickets available are

£3 single
£5.50 return (£5.50 Easiday)
Concessionary NoWCards valid on both services

Return tickets have been replaced by the £5.50 Easiday ticket (this ticket offers better value for money).

There are no discounts for under 19's. Under 19's should purchase the tickets stated above.

Please note EasiWeek and Easi28day passes are not valid on these services.

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 (except on Football Specials 287/289) – these continue to be capped at £1 funded by the Lancashire Bus Service Improvement Plan.
The £3.70 return ticket is frozen.
Portway Park and Ride tickets are frozen.
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) and 959, 961, 962, 963 (Corpus Christi).

Bob Dunn, Preston Bus Director, commented “we are delighted to confirm that we are continuing to participate in the Government’s £3 fare cap. The original £2 scheme was introduced in January 2023 as way of tackling the cost of living crisis, but it also gave a boost to bus use which had reduced during COVID.

Two years on, the cap is increasing, but we urge our customers to consider our great value range of day tickets and period tickets. Our return tickets available on selected City routes give great value for money for a simple return journey, while our Easi10Day ticket offers unlimited all-day travel for just £3.85 per day. Students and staff at UCLan continue to benefit from great value term tickets, offering unlimited travel from just £2.13 per day.

Bus fares in Preston continue to be amongst the cheapest in Lancashire, and with our comprehensive network and high frequency services, we offer a genuine alternative to using the car.”

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