Cornwall council reintroduces child bus passes after backlash

A monthly bus pass for children will be reintroduced in Cornwall after a public backlash.

Cornwall City Council said it would reintroduce the Cornwall-wide monthly children’s bus pass from Sunday “following feedback from passengers”.

The council said the pass would cost £65, down from the old price of £50.

It said: “While the decision to remove several ticket options – including the children’s monthly pass – was based on data showing extremely low usage, we recognize that this particular ticket has had an impact on children who ride the bus to school and college, but are not entitled to home-to-school transportation.”

The reintroduced Cornwall Pass will be 30% more expensive, but any children switching from a weekly city pass to a nationwide pass will pay almost double.

The The council came under pressure earlier this week Since all monthly passes and the weekly family pass were abolished, the prices for most cards were also increased.

Further price increases remain in place, as does the decision to abolish family weekly tickets and other monthly tickets.

The council said it had subsidized more than 15 million journeys through government funding since 2022, but it had always planned to “return prices to their market value” after the pilot ended.

“The funding has enabled us to also trial new ticket options and pricing to understand the preferences of bus passengers in Cornwall,” it said.

It said it was in discussions with the government about future funding for bus travel in Cornwall.

“The government’s national bus fare scheme of £2 for single journeys will remain in place until the end of December,” it said.