A SHARP rise in the cost of bus tickets has left passengers in East Cornwall wondering how they can afford to travel.

People using the service between Callington, the Tamar Valley and Tavistock are among those to see the cost of their journey increase to up to three times as much as compared to the end of 2024.

A government price cap of £2 on single journeys has now increased to £3. And bus operator Go Cornwall Bus says that a £23-million grant from the Department for Transport to fund a discount fare scheme in Cornwall is now running out. The operator says it is likely to go back to charging commercial rates.

There was a rude shock for some youngsters when they first got back on the bus this term.

One parent whose child travels from the Tamar Valley to Tavistock said that the fare had gone up from £2 return to £6 return. “This is crazy,” he said. “It’s gone from £10 a week to £30. How are we supposed to afford this?”

Nick Schemanoff has four grandchildren in St Ann’s Chapel who travel to school in Tavistock and described how the fare had risen from £1.80 return to £5. “To be honest, it's now way way cheaper to drive them there, which kind of conflicts with the green agenda to reduce emissions.

“Because the children cross the border they don’t get any subsidised travel. Their mum was told by the local authority that they wouldn’t qualify because Tavistock is within walking distance.

“The college is going to get back to us to see what they can do.

“I think about 15 to 20 students are affected. We’ve spoken with taxi companies and the community bus to see if they could help.”

Suzanne Lambert said she had contacted Go Cornwall to ask about child fares. “Their website states that child fares are reduced by up to 33 per cent, but when I questioned the cost of a child single fare from Albaston to Callington the cost is still apparently £3 - the same as an adult fare! So where is the reduction for a child travelling?”

“Also, the £3 "price cap' is a very misleading way of describing it because it's actually a £3 flat rate for a single trip rather than a maximum capped price. If you travel on the bus just one stop up the road it would still cost you £3.”

One parent using the bus to get from Callington to Honicombe and back – a journey of around nine miles – said that she had paid £16 return for herself and two children: this is the cost of a family Cornwall day ticket.

The fare hike is not just affecting schoolchildren, as another local resident pointed out.

“It’s the same for anyone who uses the buses to get to work or hospital appointments and so on, the increase in price sure adds up for regular users - and they don't want us driving cars.”

Go Cornwall Bus said: “In 2019 Cornwall Council was awarded £23.5-million from the Department for Transport to deliver a bus fares pilot. Bus operators have been reimbursed the difference between the fare that the public pay and the fare that operators would have charged in the absence of the pilot.

“Given the rural nature of Cornwall, the aim of this pilot was to determine the impact lower fares would have on passenger numbers in an area of the country where many live far from their nearest town.

“The pilot was due to start in April 2020 however due to the Covid-19 pandemic the pilot was postponed until April 2022. Through the reduced fares pilot the Transport for Cornwall partnership has been able to significantly cut the cost of bus fares, as well as trial new ticket options for people making regular journeys.

“Take the Cornwall day ticket, for example, which from January will cost £8. In 2019 passengers paid £9 for this ticket - today, without the reduced fares pilot, this ticket would cost about £11.

“Over the last two years, more than 8.7-million discounted tickets have been sold through Cornwall’s bus fares pilot. However, funding for the pilot is beginning to run out and it is likely that fares will return to their commercial value at the end of 2025.”

Some discounts would remain in place this year, said Go Cornwall Bus, such as the Cornwall monthly child fare (£65).

The ‘Tap and Cap’ contactless scheme means that people using smartphones or paying by card can make savings on bus journeys. Transport for Cornwall (a partnership between Cornwall Council and operators) sets out on its website how by using the same contactless payment device when they get on and off the bus, people will see their fare capped at no more than the cost of a daily (£6) or weekly (£24) ticket, no matter how many journeys they take.

We contacted the bus operator about the options for children travelling by bus to school across the Devon/Cornwall border but had not had a reply at the time of publishing.

Cornwall Council said that it is now waiting to hear the outcome of a £13.3-million bid for UK government National Bus Strategy funding to continue boosting bus services  and improving infrastructure in the county.

Cornwall councillor for Callington and St Dominic Andrew Long said that the council and the government needed to invest properly in order to encourage people to use public transport.

“I am disappointed that Go Cornwall Bus have decided on the increases, but the blame lies firmly with the current Cornwall Council administration and the past and present UK Governments,” he said.

“We want to encourage people to use the buses and trains but make fares so extortionate that they cannot afford to use them.  If they are going to continue this policy of trying to get people to use the buses then the fares need to match that, and both Cornwall Council and the UK government need to invest properly in a system that will work.

“Many villages in the East of Cornwall have no buses, others have had services cut, which does nothing to encourage usage.”