Vote to take place on continuing £1 youth bus fares

A vote is set to take place on extending a scheme offering young people cut-price bus journeys.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) board, which involves the mayor and council leaders, is set to agree on extending the Tiger Pass scheme until the end of March.

The passes have been used for more than one million journeys since May 2024 and give under-25s access to £1 fares on a single bus journey.

A report being presented to the board's meeting on Tuesday has recommended including bus journeys that cross county borders and discusses ways to make the scheme permanent.

Extending Tiger Passes would be funded by a £1.4m pot originally meant for the local fare cap, as well as £300,000 in reserves.

The local £2.50 fare cap would be ended in September, as opposed to December, to fund the move.

The CPCA previously said: "Without action, £1 fares for the under-25s will cease."

An original proposal to extend the Tiger Pass, but remove the fare for cross-boundary journeys, was voted down by Cambridgeshire County Council.

Alex Beckett, the leader of the authority's highways and transport committee, said the move would risk "isolating rural communities".

He said: "We blocked these proposals because they would have hit young people hard."

Paul Bristow, the Mayor for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said: "[This] is an opportunity to keep the pass going for the rest of this financial year, while we develop options for a permanent pass."

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