Bus passengers across the Isle of Wight are set to once again benefit from a £2 cap on single fares from the start of next year after Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirmed the nationwide scheme is to return.
The Government has announced that most single bus fares across England, outside London, will be capped at £2 from January until December 2027. The move will reverse the current £3 fare cap and is aimed at making bus travel more affordable while encouraging more people to use public transport.
The £2 single fare cap was first introduced on the Isle of Wight on 1st January 2023 after Southern Vectis signed up to the Department for Transport’s national fare cap scheme.
Initially intended to run for just 3 months, the initiative proved hugely popular with passengers and was repeatedly extended by successive governments, allowing customers to make almost any single journey across the Isle of Wight for no more than £2.
However, at the end of 2025 the Government announced that the maximum capped single fare would increase to £3, with Southern Vectis introducing the higher fare across its network from 1st January 2025.
The latest announcement means the lower £2 cap will return for the whole of 2027, subject to operators signing up to the scheme.
Southern Vectis says it intends to participate, although it is still awaiting full details from the Department for Transport.
Southern Vectis Commercial Director, David Lee-King said:
“The £2 single fare cap was very popular, and we welcome its return in 2027.
“We are currently awaiting further details from the Department for Transport, but it is certainly our intention to take part – subject to the terms and conditions, which have not yet been made available to operators.”
The Government says the reintroduced fare cap forms part of a wider package of investment in England’s bus network, with additional funding allocated to support operators and help make public transport a more affordable alternative to travelling by car.
Further details of the scheme, including the terms for participating operators, are expected to be published by the Department for Transport in due course.
I’ll use the bus more at £2. Even £3 is not bad. Costs more in petrol and car parking
That is very true but with all the twits travelling on the buses
thesedays (feet on seats etc)
I prefer using my car, you can always find a free space on the island
especially if in Sandown.
Parking for FREE and evading paying extortionate Council parking
charges is the norm.
IT IS FREE 365 DAYS OF THE YEAR.
I am not joking.
NOT TO MENTION 1 VEHICLES THAT PARKS ALL DAY IN UNION STREET RYDE EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A 1HOUR MAXIMUM STAY!
Must have a Civil Enforcement Officer as a relation
Hence I WILL NEVER PAY TO PARK ON THE ISLAND WHY OTHERS
ARE EVADING CHARGES.
What is good for the Goose is good for the Gander.
Enjoy your £2 bus trips and let’s hope they lower them even more
for you.
Every little helps
Intention my a@se, instructions from The King of the North.
“Don’t have a choice” shame The King of the North doesn’t do
a price cap with Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel.
How much taxpayer money is paid to southern vectis to compensate them for the loss they incur
It covers the loss, obviously, otherwise no bus company would be able top participate.
The scheme in total will cost £500m across the year of 2027. £454m of that is reallocated from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero budget, largely by changing international climate funding from grants to loans.
The rest is from funding already set aside in the Dept of Transport.
The total cost to the taxpayer is £12.50, per taxpayer, per year. Or 24 pence a week.
Roughly the same as it costs us to maintain the Windsor Family, but far better value.
Shame they don’t invest in some speed camera’s.
How would that immediately improve the cost of living crisis for everyone currently struggling? If anything, it would increase their taxation for infrastructure costs.
And, as the council has to buy them at 40k a go, but the fines generated go back to the treasury it would save us….diddly squat. It’s called operational deficit, and does not work in local schemes which usually run at a net loss.
That’s more council tax for you to complain about.
That is their little secret, they will never tell us that one.
Yet again the only persons who gain are those on benefits and
don’t pay ANY taxes.
No secret, the figures are as above. No gov’t expenditure is secret, they have audits too and are compelled to publish the figures including funding.
The people who gain are largely those who have to go to work and back, saving them £40 a month in a cost of living crisis.
If people on benefits travelled as often they’d be SPENDING £80 a month on largely unnecessary travel.
Even with 2 different account names on here you’ve still not managed to grow a functioning brain, have you John?
Wanna have a pop at the amount of TOTALLY FREE elderly passes issued for the over 60s with far more disposable income than is necessary for daily living?
Eye-watering taxation for the younger employed and struggling, that one. I’ll start you off. There are roughly 9 million over 60s in the UK……