11 December 2012

First Fares Up

Fare changes in Devon & Cornwall from 30 December 2012

CORNWALL

Fare changes in Cornwall from Sunday 30 December. From this date the following fares and tickets will be changing in Cornwall:

Single and Return Fares

The prices of most single and return fares will change by between 5p and 25p. This is for adult and child fares.

Concession pass travel

The price of our pre 09:30 and post 23:00 concession travel fare will be changing from £1.70 to £1.80. This fare is applicable for a single journey on any First service in Cornwall departing before 09:30 or after 23:00 Monday to Friday (except public holidays) for those with a valid concession pass.

--- FirstDay ---

The prices of these tickets will be changing to:
Cornwall Adult £7.20
Cornwall Child £5.50
Cornwall Family £12.40 (any 5 people, max 2 adults)
These tickets continue to offer excellent value with unlimited travel on all First buses in Cornwall for one day.

--- First3Day ---

The prices of these tickets will be changing to
Adult £16.50
Child £10.50
The family ticket will remain at £30.00 (any 5 people, max 2 adults).

--- FirstWeek Cornwall ---

We are pleased to announce were reducing the prices of our FirstWeek Cornwall tickets which will now be
Adult £25.00 (was £37.00)
Child £20.00 (was £20.00)
Family £35.00 (was £56.00) (any 5 people, max 2 adults)
These tickets offer exceptional value with unlimited travel on all First buses in Cornwall for seven consecutive days.

--- FirstWeek Penzance ---

The prices of this ticket will be changing to:
Adult £13.00

--- First6Month Cornwall ---

The price of the Adult ticket will be changing to £440.00.

--- 14 journey tickets ---


The prices of these tickets will be changing. Please ask your driver for details of your specific journey.

DEVON


Fare changes in Devon from Sunday 30 December. From this date the following fares and tickets will be changing in Devon:

--- Single and Return Fares ---

The prices of most single and return fares will change by between 5p and 25p (in some instances fares may decrease). This is for adult and child fares.

--- Plymouth Park & Ride ----

PR1 The George
Adult Single to/from George to City £2.40
Adult Return to/from George to City Centre £2.70
Family Return to/from George to City £4.80
10 Journey George to City Centre £21.00
PR1 Milehouse
Adult Single to/from Milehouse to City £1.45
Adult Return to/from Milehouse to City £2.00
Family Return to/from Milehouse to City £4.20
10 Journey Milehouse to City Centre £16.50
PR2 Coypool
Adult Single to Coypool to City Centre £2.10
Adult Return - Coypool £2.30
Family Return to/from Coypool to City £4.70
10 Journey Coypool to City Centre £20.00

--- FirstDay ---

The prices of these tickets will be changing to:
Plymouth Adult £3.50
Plymouth Child £2.90
Plymouth Family £8.00
Plymouth Plus Adult £4.70
Plymouth Plus Child £3.30
Devon Child £5.30 (The adult price remains at £7.40)

--- First3Day ---

The price of these tickets will be changing to:
Adult £16.50
Child £10.50
The family ticket remains at £30.00

--- FirstWeek ---

The price of these tickets will be changing to:
City Adult £11.50
Plymouth Adult £15.00
Plymouth Plus Adult £21.00
Plymouth Child £11.00
Plymouth Plus Child £15.50
Dartmouth Adult £15.50
Service 93 Adult £27.00
Devon & Cornwall Family £58.00 (The Adult and Child prices are unchanged).

--- FirstMonth Plymouth ---

The price of these tickets will be changing to
City Adult £39.30
Plymouth Adult £60.00
Plymouth Plus Adult £77.55
Plymouth Child £44.50
Plymouth Plus Child £51.70

--- First3Month Plymouth ---

The price of these tickets will be changing to
Plymouth Adult £160.00
Plymouth Plus Adult £200.00

--- First6Month ---

The price of these tickets will be changing to
Plymouth Adult £270.00
Plymouth Plus £350.00
Devon Adult £440.00

It never ceases to amaze me just how many different tickets First offer!


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29 comments:

  1. To be fair even if my fare went up the max 25p it would still be cheaper than Citybus where I am. I would be interested to see who's fare goes down!!!

    Notice large cuts to season tickets down in Cornwall, as a previous writter said is this to turn the screw on what thet might see as a weakend Western Greyhound ???

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  2. I'm interested in what will be the new Derriford to City Centre & vice versa fare on the 15 - will be interesting to see who's cheaper, the 15 or Citybus with their new 42Ds, the latter should provide good competition with the 15.

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  3. Anonymous 8:12 where are you talking about? Just wondered where FDC are over 25p cheaper than PCB

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  4. First have not mentioned their First Month Plymstock ticket, currently priced at £32. I was wondering if this is to increased, or is being withdrawn?

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  5. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this not the same First Group that only very recently said that fare increases don't work anymore, and that they needed to find alternative methods to increase revenue!?

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  6. Goodbye First. They can't compete when tickets are the same prices as PCB. i.e, week ticket and dayrider.

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    Replies
    1. As has been said in the past, a First dayrider/season ticket has less 'value' if you work in the city, and while I believe First give you a full month not 28 days like Citybus, First run very few Sunday services, let alone evening services. Given their two recent strikes, their lack of service in the City, their shoddy old, tatty buses, they certainly wouldn't be getting my money for a period pass. All of it shows they're not committed to service at all, which is not something they want to be doing.

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  7. ANOn 8:44 Try Goldenind to City £3 Citybus return, £2.70 First.

    Goldenhind to Mutley £2.20 Citybus Return, £2.20 First!

    It would have to go way above 25p extra to beat the latter in particular

    Also St Judes to City is about 40 - 50p on average Cheaper on First 5 than Citybus 23/24

    I believe areas along Barnebarton etc are cheaper on First 3 than Citybus 26 also!!!

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  8. Sorry on previous I meant

    Goldenhind to Mutley £2.80 Citybus. £2.20 First!

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  9. Got to say to be fair to First if my fare does go up this time (it didn't last time) ut will still only be the 2nd increase in over 3 years (nearer to 4). My citybus fare has gone up 4 times in that period. Hence my fare also would have to go up quite a bit to get anywhere near Citybus ones! Expect a fare increase from them in New Year???

    Also Season tickets are still way cheaper and longer on First as well.. so stop knocking them all the time... You would not have hal the swervice you have from Citybus if First were not here giving competeition and keeping fares down!! FACT!

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  10. If I were First I wopuld look to lower their fares along Northern Corridor to take on Citybus 42's etc. Perpahps a slight reduction from Tavi to try and see off Jacketts before they get going and look after Plymstock!!!

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  11. My fare is currently 65p cheaper on Citybus, with this fare increase that will raise closer to 80/90p.

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  12. Get this, a single on Citybus for me is £2.00. It's £3.25 on First!!

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  13. Our driver told us tonight that First is also considering dropping PlusBus in Plymouth next year. Apparently due to a lack of use and funding / legal issues caused by the rail franchise problems of late.

    Can anyone else confirm this?

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  14. I was told Citybus were doing the same!!! They don't allow railcard discount on Plus bus anymore anyway...so not much saving anyway!! I think day ticket with plusbus is £2.20 compsared to normal First Day ticket £3.40

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  15. As I have a travel pass I am not really affected by these fares increases but when I have to pay for my son to travel with me its £2.65 return to town on the 15 and only £2.50 on Citybus - thats before the rise.

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  16. I agree with Tom, First buses are shoddy and down at the heal, even their new livery looks at best amateur. Citybus vehicles may be of similar ages, but they are well presented and tidy, this gives the impression that they are a professional outfit who know how to run buses. I am still under the impression that if the price was right First would pull out of Devon and Cornwall, they have got far too big with their concerns firmly laid with shareholders, trains and certainly not their passengers.
    TaviLynx must be one of their most profitable routes and what do they service the route with?! Clapped out Volvo B6ble's with some new leather seating and that cant go up a slight incline at any more than 15mph! No wonder the A386 is so congested, there is no suitable alternative to the car, perhaps First may up their game when the Drake rail line is extended from Bere Alston to Tavistock.

    Give me a Citybus or Target Travel service anyday over a First one!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "perhaps First may up their game when the Drake rail line is extended from Bere Alston to Tavistock"

      I hope passengers don't have to wait that long!

      Delete
  17. I'm just thinking along the lines of say in Estover, who would you choose to buy a monthly period pass? (To clarify my above post I do not buy a period pass of any length as I don't have the use for one!)

    Quite a few people are working evenings now and say if you're employed in town, that'll instantly give you an answer. It immediately sends out a message in your head saying 'oh First aren't bothered, they're doing the bare minimum, what with no evening/Sunday service'. Their Ivybridge 88 is a different example - this has the potential to be a really useful service to the residents of Ivybridge, what are they using on it? Ex-Hong Kong R-reg SLFs. Imagine being at a bus stop in Ivybridge and the two came along at once - a tatty looking 14/15 year old SLF or a nice leather seat Enviro 200?

    (On a slightly more positive note that £32 monthly Plymstock ticket is excellent value! I'd certainly not want to increase the cost of that to above £35, if at all.)

    Perhaps I'm not the right person to comment as I've never used a First service as there aren't any in Plympton other than the every 2 hours 180 which realistically isn't a 'proper' Plympton service. Their 12 didn't serve my area as it was copying the main Plympton route, the 21.

    Other than the P&R Enviros, do First *currently* have any other 'nice' buses? Can't think of any off the top of my head.

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  18. This is the first fare revision for 12 months with First which is reasonable when you consider costs do increase. However western greyhound (who seem to be nearly gone bust) have put up fares 3 times in 10 months from January 2012 to October 2012.

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  19. Agree with above... I was also lucky enough as someone stated earlier to avoid First fare increase at start of 2012, so this will be my first increase since 2010, not bad considering the cost of fuel etc (not to mention pay rises etc and rightly so!!)

    In this time Plymouth Citybus have had 4 or 5 increases and Western Greyhound at least 5, so really cant moan... this makes First the cheapest of all 3 in my area and still will even after max 25p rise at start of January!!

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  20. What area are you in Anon (0730) where all three cover you?

    Certainly can be Saltash where First is £1.25 more expensive than PCB.

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  21. I find First are often a lot cheaper where they compete with Citybus..and Citybus were the original operator. Take Saltash as an example First are the original operator there and provide much more frequent service than Citybus, so if you want a return the extra 40p may be worth it!!!

    Where I am First are cheaper than Citybus...Target are the cheapest but with only 1 bus an hour not woth saving the 20p over First with a bus every 10 mins!!!

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  22. I personally don't think they will up their game with new rail line as it stands at the moment this would be operated by FIRST Great western, so why worry!!!

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  23. At anonymous 12.57, First Great Western tender is up for renewal due to their early termination of the Great Western Franchise. They may very well not get it upon retender, especially in light of the cock up on the West Coast Mainline, it could be another operator such as Arriva putting the pressure on with an extended Tavi railway line.

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  24. First have got some great buses in Southampton and Portsmouth and the Eclipse routes between Fareham and Gosport are some of the best you will see in the country.

    As for Plymouth, First appear to have reached a fork in the road. Will they invest in the fleet and expand in 2013? The current network looks too small surely for First to maintain it ticking along in its present state. The options as I see it are to either sell, and I would consider speed to be of the essence here if they are to ensure they have an asset worth selling. If they sell then for the city it needs to be to another big group to ensure there is the prospect of increased competition in the city. The other option is invest and expand their network with new routes that can cater for the gaps in PCB's offering. If I was First I'd choose the latter and mount a spring offensive rolling out a relaunched Ugobus network, but we will see.

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  25. Anon 20:52 - why should a relaunched Ugobus offensive work? They tried that a couple of years ago and it didn't work against a weakened council-owned Citybus that was up for sale. Why would it work next time against an invigorated Citybus under Go-Ahead? To be honest, as Go-Ahead is looking for a 43% increase in bus profits over the next fours, it's more likely that Go-Ahead would attack First.... or have they already started with Ivybridge? Go-Ahead is starting to flex its muscles elsewhere in the country too, whereas First really needs to sort out it's existing operations before trying to do anything clever.

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  26. * that was supposed to say "the next four years". Not sure what happened there!

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  27. I think First would have as much chance as PCB of becoming Plymouth's dominant operator. After all PCB ain't up to much themselves. If First put in the vehicles, with a strong marketing campaign (like the one currently in play in Portsmouth), launch a new network of simple high frequency cross city routes running late into the evenings and throughout Sundays they'd have a chance. Not to mention pitching fares at a low and simple level and paying a higher rate of pay than PCB. It may be a bit of a loss leader in its early days but it could shake up the current status.

    In the bus world if one operator can do something there's no reason why another cant match or better that. They just need the will to bring that success.

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