Latest news with #TigerBusPass
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
'Drastic' action needed to save Cambridgeshire £1 Tiger bus pass
A mayor who pledged to retain a discounted bus scheme warned it was in danger of being lost unless "something drastic" was Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority's (CPCA) Tiger bus pass allows people under 25 to travel for £1 and has been used on more than a million was introduced by former Labour mayor Nik Johnson, with his Conservative successor Paul Bristow promising it would stay in a BBC interview last month.A recommendation on how to continue funding it beyond the end of the year was not agreed by the CPCA board and will be discussed again at a transport meeting on 25 June. Chris Boden, leader of the Conservative-led Fenland District Council, had argued the council should not continue its local bus fare cap beyond December, when it is currently due to end, and instead fund the Tiger the Tiger pass once the national £3 bus fare cap had also ceased in December could mean the CPCA would have to reimburse bus operators to the tune of £473,000 a month, and £6.2m a year, a report to the board stated."If we don't take some quite drastic action, which involves a large amount of money being shifted around in the budget, then the Tiger pass will stop," he argued the Tiger pass must be continued to build up passenger numbers but would otherwise run out of funding in the measure could run until March, he said, when a new budget and proposal would be put forward. "We have an opportunity here with £1.8m in the budget for the fare cap coming on December 31," he said."If that money were utilised towards the continuation of the existing Tiger pass to March 31, that would be a very significant part of the funding needed for that."Speaking in support of the proposal, Bristow said: "We are in danger of losing the Tiger pass if we don't do something drastic."What people want is continuity and security."Lucy Nethsingha, leader of the Liberal Democrat-controlled Cambridgeshire County Council, said she thought the Tiger pass was a "priority" but would rather everyone had the correct figures before making a Bailey, leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council - led by the Tories - supported the recommendation and said the bus fare cap was the "wrong choice" when the Tiger pass was City Labour councillor Anna Smith, who was deputy mayor when the Tiger pass was introduced, suggested looking beyond the transport budget to find money for the bus Tiger bus pass and bus fare cap are due to be discussed at a transport meeting on 25 June before being brought back to the board in July. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
£1 bus pass, staying says Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor
The new mayor for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough says he plans to keep the Tiger bus pass - used on over one million journeys - allows children and young people under the age of 25 to travel for £1 per Bristow, who won the area's mayoral election for the Conservatives, made the promise in an interview with the BBC's Politics East programme. He also said he would proceed with the bus franchising agreement signed by the previous mayor, Labour's Nik Johnson. But he said he would not increase the council tax precept, which currently subsidises some bus services and fares. The Tiger pass was one of the previous mayor's 'proudest achievements'.Over 40,000 people have applied for says he also plans to "make bus franchising work" after the paperwork was signed in February. Franchising will see bus services in the area brought under the control of the combined authority. They will control routes and fares, with bus operators invited to run the buses are not his only plans for transport in Cambridgeshire. He also says duelling roads like the A10 and the A47 is among his top priorities. He also wants to explore options for light rail. "Cambridge is already congested," he said. "I think it is a solution that will get Cambridge and Peterborough moving."Bristow has previously said he thinks a light rail service between Cambourne and Cambridge could be up and running before East-West rail. BBC Politics East will be broadcast on Sunday 12 January at 10:00 GMT on BBC One in the East of England, and will be available after broadcast on BBC iPlayer. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
