South Yorkshire to retain £1 public transport fares for children but tram price cap to end

Members of South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s (SYMCA) board have decided to approve the proposal to retain the child concessionary single fare at £1, end the tram fare cap at the end of December 2024 and support the Department for Transport’s (DfT) £3 fare bus cap from January 1.

A document published by the authority noted that by increasing the notified fare from 80p to £1 in November 2023, it saved £1.4m of annual direct costs in child concessionary fare reimbursement.

This, as authors have claimed, has been reinvested into saving the bus network.

Also, according to some calculations and assumptions, the next increase to £1.10 may only be needed in the 2028/2029 financial year.

With regards to the bus fare cap, SYMCA funded one – the £2 bus fare cap – for two months from November 1 to December 31, 2022 before DfT took over and assumed responsibility for a nationwide cap that was extended until December 31, this year.

The new cap will be set at £3 and it’s going to be in place for another year.

SYMCA also decided to fund a tram fare cap but when it was increased from £2 to £2.80 in November 2023, the number of journeys “significantly decreased”.

The fare cap on trams is due to end at the end of December.

Oliver Coppard, the South Yorkshire mayor, told the board meeting that not every journey will cost £3, it’s only a cap, a maximum that can be charged, and people should be reminded of this in the months to come.