BUS fares are to rise across West Yorkshire after the principal operator, First, announced price increases from April 1.
The company said rising costs had prompted the increase in fares which is the first significant increase since January last year.
First added that the average rise of just under 3 per cent is lower than the current 3.3 per cent rate of inflation.
Some fares, such as the Short Hop single in Leeds will increase by 10 per cent from £1 to £1.10 while some are coming down in price, including the weekly child ticket which drops from £8 to £7.
Some First fares remain frozen, including the FirstDay and FirstWeek tickets, which allow unlimited travel across West Yorkshire.
Dave Alexander, Regional Managing Director for First in the North of England said: “It is 15 months since our last price rise. We have had to review our fares to meet the ongoing challenge of rising costs to our business and have kept the rise below the rate of inflation.
“We appreciate nobody likes it when prices go up but we have worked hard to keep any increases to a minimum by introducing savings within our business to off-set cost increases. Despite some of these price changes, the cost of travel on a First bus still represents great value-for-money.”
“Our aim in 2013 is to continue to give value-for-money to our customers and look to build customer growth in partnership with the local authorities and which will be further helped by the potential of significant investment in new vehicles.”
Since the last fares increase, First said it had introduced a number of ticketing initiatives including fare reductions on the Headingley corridor and acceptance of other operator’s tickets on the A65 corridor. It has also invested some £20m in 100 new buses.
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