The Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, this week announced that passengers boarding any West Yorkshire bus from September would pay no more than £2 per journey. The proposal comes after the West Yorkshire Combined Authority submitted a revised bus service improvement plan to the Department for Transport (DfT) earlier this month.
The new £2 maximum fare will be negotiated with bus operators through the new West Yorkshire Enhanced Partnership, which began operating on the 1st of April this year.
As well as single fares, the multi-operator WY DaySaver tickets available through the MCard app and smartcard will be reduced from £5.50 to £4.50 from September. In addition, funding for new bus routes to reconnect as many communities as possible left isolated by changes to services will also be made available.
If the plans are approved by DfT later this year, the new £2 maximum fare will be the first scheme delivered under West Yorkshire’s Enhanced Partnership.
The full roll out of ‘tap-on-tap-off’ in 2023 means that travellers won’t have to plan their journeys in advance – they will be able to travel on as many buses as they need each day for no more than £4.50.