£3 Fares - FAQ

£3 fares | FAQs

What exactly is the £3 bus fares cap?
• The cost of a single bus fare will be a maximum of £3. This is being funded by the Government to help ease cost of living pressures.
• The cap will help people save money on their travel costs and will encourage more people to choose buses for local journeys and beyond.

What journeys does it cover?
• The £3 single fare will cover all journeys by participating bus operators. Brighton & Hove and Metrobus is participating, so any journey you take on our services will be included.
• On routes where return fares are available, these will be reduced to a maximum of £6.

Is there a maximum distance?
• No, there isn’t a maximum distance. But the cap only covers local buses – it doesn’t cover inter-city coach journeys.

Is every bus company taking part?
• No. A list of all bus companies taking part is available here.

What payment methods are included? You can pay for the £3 fare in the following ways:
• Using Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay or Google Pay to tap on, tap off the bus
• Buying a special £3 single ticket on our app, which must be activated less than 15 minutes before boarding the bus
• Using Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay or Google Pay to buy multiple tickets from the driver
• Cash on the bus

My usual fare is below £3. Does this mean it will go up to £3?
• No, all single fares are £3 or less.

Does this cap cover child fares as well as adult fares?
• Yes.

I have a concessionary ticket and get free/discounted travel. Will I have to pay £3?
• If you hold an English National Concessionary pass, then you are able to use it for free at certain times of day for bus travel. Outside of these times your journey will cost £3 or less.

Will the price of day, multi-day and weekly tickets and caps, as well as longer term tickets, change?
• No, the price of these tickets and caps will be unchanged, so you may save if you buy £3 tickets for each journey instead.
• If you are making several journeys per day, normal day and week tickets are still available which may remain the best option. Tap on, tap off is the easiest way to automatically get the best fare when paying on the bus.

If fares are capped, do I still have to ‘tap off’ when I get off the bus as well as ‘tap on’?
• Yes, you still need to tap off and tap on, in order to ensure we can calculate the correct fare.

What happens if I change buses – do I have to pay £3 twice?
• Yes, you do. The fare cap only applies to a journey on a single bus.

When does the £3 fare cap end?
• The £3 fare cap agreement lasts until December 2025.