Hmmmm. Interesting one, this.[1] You might recall[3] me talking about my local bus service and the way it changed in late 2006. You don’t? Well, it started here, got more interesting here and settled down a bit here. Anyway, since the adjustment to the adjustment, the service has been running quite well – and quite remarkably without an increase in fares, which is really unusual. Normally, there would be at least one rise every year to cover increased fuel costs and so on.

Well, that couldn’t last forever. And this week, along with other services run by the same company, fares on the 53/54 rose. Well, sort of. What they’ve done is, as I mentioned, moderately interesting. Rather than increase the cross-Tyne fare from its quite friendly level of £1, they’ve left it at that level. Now that strikes me as very sensible. There’s something about round amounts that makes them into psychological barrier thingies. At £1, you just need one convenient coin, and it somehow seems significantly less than, say £1.10. In reality, that extra 10p per journey wouldn’t greatly matter, but it would still make a lot of people think twice before getting the bus. So for people whose usual journeys involve crossing the river, there’s no change.

But they do need to make some more money somewhere. And that somewhere is on the “within Gateshead” fare, which has been 70p since the revised service came in. This was a good deal for a lot of people at the time, as it was actually 10p-20p cheaper than it used to be. But it’s now £1, just the same as the cross-Tyne fare. I can see people whose regular journeys are mostly within Gateshead feeling a little annoyed at a rise of over 40% in their bus fare, but presumably they’ve done some research to see what the passengers will be prepared to pay. I suspect that for most people, the £1 level will be just on the border of acceptable. And it’s less than it would have been if the old fares had remained and had the usual level of increases over the last 18 months or so, which is another way of looking at it. And it must be easier to manage, having a flat fare on the service…

So, are the new fares fair? I really don’t know. When I use the buses, it’s more often cross-Tyne than not, so for me, this is better than spreading the increase over all fares. And to be honest, if I was using the service within Gateshead, the 30p change I would have got from a pound would just go in my “penny jar” anyway. Other people’s perspectives may differ…

Regular travellers[4] who don’t need to use other public transport can get a one week ticket for £8, up from the previous £7.50.

[1] Well, not that interesting, but it’s the best I can do right now[2]
[2] I may have some software to talk about over the next few days, though. That might be more interesting
[3] If you have a good memory, or are just a bit odd
[4] Which I’m trying not to be…