No ticket price increases in 2021

[Stu]

National Express West Midlands have announced that there will be no fare increases in January 2021 and all prices will be frozen.

National Express West Midlands is not putting up any of its bus fares. The price of every one of the company's tickets will be exactly the same in January 2021 as they are now.

There have already been four years of fares cuts and freezes up to now, including keeping the bus company's biggest-selling product - the after-0930 day ticket - costing the same today as it did in 2013.

David Bradford, Managing Director of National Express West Midlands, said:

"We think our customers have been through quite enough change for one year. Keeping our fares as low as we can is the right thing to do.

"Throughout the whole pandemic, National Express West Midlands has been getting hundreds of thousands of key workers safely to where they need to be. And we are here for our communities when restrictions get lifted and people are ready to travel again.

"Buses are for everyone, and don't forget, with Birmingham's Clean Air Zone coming in next June, the easiest and cheapest thing you can do to clean up our air and fight climate change is to hop on the bus."

https://nxbus.co.uk/west-midlands/news/bus-fares-not-going-up-in-january

[markcf83]

Very welcome news for bus users of the Second City and surrounding areas.

[mesub]

I'm pretty sure it's due to the government's job retention bonus scheme.

(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53761932)

[monkeyjoe]

Good pr for national express they were also on the national news talking about reduced carbon emissions etc

[Steve3229vp]

I'm pretty sure it's due to the government's job retention bonus scheme.

(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53761932)

Can't you accept it as good news, it bad enough with some of the comments from the public on Social media.

[Tony]

I'm pretty sure it's due to the government's job retention bonus scheme.

(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53761932)

No it's not

[mesub]

Can't you accept it as good news, it bad enough with some of the comments from the public on Social media.

It is very good news.

Edit: That article just came to mind when I saw this topic.

[Gareth]

The job retention bonus scheme has been scrapped anyway.

[mesub]

The job retention bonus scheme has been scrapped anyway.

Oh really? Interesting, I wasn't aware of that

[Sh4318]

Can't you accept it as good news, it bad enough with some of the comments from the public on Social media.

Given this government's failures this year, I'm not surprised people are unhappy, but that's neither here nor there

The frozen prices are great news for bus users

[Steveminor]

CBSSG terms & conditions state NO fare increases until 4 weeks after the grant has finished.

[JoNi]

A notice has gone up in buses saying fares are frozen.
NX weren't so open about reducing the service 30% on my local route in the daytime.
A publican would be a laughing stock if he posted a notice saying our prices are unchanged but you will only get two thirds of a pint!
Safety, Reliability (of service and information) and convenience come above fares in my expectations.
If somebody had told me at the turn of the century that the annual retail price index would rise on average by 2% per annum I would have made a rough estimate the single fare would now be £1.10 and weekly pass just over £11! The price of petrol has gone down 10% in real terms in that time!

[Tony]

A notice has gone up in buses saying fares are frozen.
NX weren't so open about reducing the service 30% on my local route in the daytime.
A publican would be a laughing stock if he posted a notice saying our prices are unchanged but you will only get two thirds of a pint!
Safety, Reliability (of service and information) and convenience come above fares in my expectations.
If somebody had told me at the turn of the century that the annual retail price index would rise on average by 2% per annum I would have made a rough estimate the single fare would now be £1.10 and weekly pass just over £11! The price of petrol has gone down 10% in real terms in that time!

Not sure how you have worked those prices out, the were above that in 2000
How much has insurance gone up in those 20 years, how much have wages gone up in 20 years, how much has diesel gone up in 20 years?

National Express did actually want to reduce fares, but are not allowed to by the government.

[Tony]

A notice has gone up in buses saying fares are frozen.
NX weren't so open about reducing the service 30% on my local route in the daytime.
A publican would be a laughing stock if he posted a notice saying our prices are unchanged but you will only get two thirds of a pint!
Safety, Reliability (of service and information) and convenience come above fares in my expectations.
If somebody had told me at the turn of the century that the annual retail price index would rise on average by 2% per annum I would have made a rough estimate the single fare would now be £1.10 and weekly pass just over £11! The price of petrol has gone down 10% in real terms in that time!

Your comparison with the pub doesn't stand up either. The product you get from the supplier is the same, in the case of the bus a journey of the same distance, just not available at so many times, exactly the same as pubs this year with reduced opening hours and periods with no service at all

[JoNi]

Not sure how you have worked those prices out, the were above that in 2000
How much has insurance gone up in those 20 years, how much have wages gone up in 20 years, how much has diesel gone up in 20 years?

National Express did actually want to reduce fares, but are not allowed to by the government.

I chose 2000 because buses had been operating for 15 years in a commercial environment.
A picture dated 28/1/2000 of poster on 2863 dated stated the Coventry single fare was 75p, its now £2.20
The January 2000 Centro map states the Coventry one week Faresaver was £7.70, its now £15.
I usually buy an nBus at £17 as you only need to ride on one non NX bus to get value for money. When waiting in Foleshill recently there were three 20s all due in 9 minutes, I just hopped on a 48C which was empty and twice as comfortable!
The regional Busmaster was £12.50 in 2000 and that's only 50% more today at £17.50 as nBus.

The fuel price comparison came from this website written by a rational petrolhead (they do exist)

http://www.speedlimit.org.uk/petrolprices.html

Apologies for delay in replying TfWM website returned 28 options for a weekly ticket!