South Lincolnshire operator Brylaine Travel welcomes extension to £2 bus fare cap

Travellers are being urged to get on the buses after the £2 fare cap scheme was extended.

Brylaine Travel MD Marianne Garbutt welcomed the news as 'fabulous' - and is calling on regular passengers and people who never use public transport to make the most of the money-saving offer to try something new.

"Even if you never travel by bus, use it as a day-trip," she urged.

"You can basically go anywhere for £2. Whether it's us or (fellow operator) Stagecoach, it doesn't matter.

"The more people who get on buses the better. I'm an advocate for the £2 cap full stop."

The scheme, which originally ran for the first three months of the year, saw the Government subsidise bus travel, meaning no fare was to cost a punter more than £2.

But following its initial success, the campaign will now run until the end of June.

The average single local bus ticket in the country costs £2.80, which means passengers can save almost a third of the ticket price and over 75% on some of the longest trips.

The scheme also aims to encourage travellers back on to public transport with numbers dropping off considerably since the pandemic.

"It's fabulous. It's not for us, it's for the passengers," Marianne continued.

"We're rural and services aren't as supported as they are in urban corridors and passengers have to pay for the buses to run as they're commercial.

"It costs a lot of money for them so the £2 fare cap is fantastic.

"Anything post Covid that gets people on the bus is great, absolutely."

Marianne added that newcomers to Brylaine's services would benefit by downloading their app - available on iPhone and Android.

"The app gives all the timetables and a journey planner, they can also track their bus," she added.

"It just makes it easier for people who don't use a bus normally, it gives that little bit more security."