The Cornish Road to March 2028

Cornwall Council has launched a bus market engagement exercise as part of its participation in the Department for Transport (DfT) Franchising and Bus Reform pilot.

The engagement process opened on 9 December and will run to 14 January 2026. Through it, bus operators and other industry stakeholders have been invited to assist the local authority in developing a future delivery model for bus services in the county.

Under the DfT pilot, Cornwall Council will investigate potential models including Enhanced Partnership Plus and various franchising approaches. The latter will capture different levels of risk sharing between operators and the authority; phasing; and procurement methods.

The council describes the engagement work as “a soft market testing exercise” and says it will provide critical insights into interest and help to inform the procurement strategy for bus services in Cornwall.

March 2028 may sound like a long way ahead but that will soon go by. It will be interesting to see what model Cornwall go with.

With luck this should be my last posting made on my trusty PC which has come to the end of its natural life. There may be a bit of a wait while I get everything installed and up and running on the new pc. Based on previous experience there is always something I have missed…

Cornish Catch Up

Catching up on some transport news for Cornwall:

Its Unfare…

The recent announcement of fare increases has not gone down well:

Cornwall Live readers have voiced their concern following a recent bus fare increase, marking the second such rise in four months. This hike has particularly troubled parents who depend on public transport for their children's journey to school.

Bus fares across Cornwall are set to soar for the second time in just four months, leaving hundreds of passengers, particularly families with children, facing even tougher challenges amidst the cost of living crisis. Go Cornwall Bus, operating under Transport for Cornwall and overseen by Cornwall Council, has declared that from the end of September, ticket prices will rise for both adults and children on most services.

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/news-opinion/cornwall-bus-fares-rocket-one-9590237

On 1 October, Go Cornwall Bus sent out two emails in quick succession to Geoff Cadwallader, chair of Rame Peninsula Public Transport User Group, with their explanation of the fare increases, although neither email directly addressed the impact on families whose fares for school travel have increased so substantially.

http://www.cornwallbuses.org.uk/bus-fares-increasing-from-29-september.html

---

National Distress

Users of a coach service between south-west England and London have lost a "lifeline" after the decision to axe it, supporters of it say.

The National Express 503 service used to run from Penzance to the capital - stopping in towns including Camborne, Newquay and Launceston - but has not run since the start of September

North Cornwall MP Ben Maguire has launched a petition, external to argue for the service to be reinstated.

National Express said it recognised local people's disappointment but it had to stop it as it was not financially viable.

Liberal Democrat MP Mr Maguire said he would raise the issue with the transport secretary as soon as he returned to parliament.

He said: "This is going to have a massive impact on my constituents and that is why I have immediately started this campaign to reinstate it.

"It's totally unacceptable. We already have such abysmal transport infrastructure in North Cornwall and now this vital link has been taken away from us."

A spokesperson for National Express said: "This change is part of a comprehensive review of our national network and unfortunately the 503 service is commercially unviable.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c243q1rl6zzo

Cornish Fares Increasing

Bus fares changing in Cornwall from this weekend:

Some bus fares in Cornwall will be increasing from Sunday 29 September. We’ve been subsidising fares to keep them at reduced prices since we introduced our Bus Fares Pilot in April 2022, allowing passengers to save millions of pounds. But rises in operating costs mean that you will now see a small change in the price of some of our fares.

We’ve also looked at which products are most important to you, our customers, and as a result we are simplifying the selection of tickets you can buy.

The full list of affected fares can be seen below. Bus operators continue to work with Cornwall Council and Department for Transport to cap all single bus tickets at £2 until 31 December 2024 with funding from HM Government Help for Households, while under 5s can still travel for free.

 

I am surprised to see the loss of the monthly options as this will lead to some pretty hefty fare increases for regular travellers. We are all still waiting to hear what happens to the £2 single bus ticket cap at the end of the year. If that also goes then I can see bus usage dropping right back again as people will be hit with very large increases. The option to prepay for a whole month and therefore save money does seem like an odd one to drop. Sure the prices will go up, but why not still offer the same tickets?