Fares to rise after funding ends

Ticket prices for buses in Reading, Berkshire, are set to rise as government funding comes to an end.

Reading Borough Council said five million All-Bus tickets had been sold since it introduced the scheme — part of its £26 million Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) — in March 2023.

John Ennis, Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, said the council’s scheme had brought bus usage close to pre-COVID (coronavirus disease) levels, and that the authority remained ‘committed’ to making public transport more attractive.

Cllr Ennis added that the government funding ‘was never going to last for ever’ and that Reading Borough Council could not subsidise bus travel.