# Keep the £2 bus fare through 2024

> “We’ll also invest £6.5 billion across the rest of the country, on schemes like keeping the £2 bus fare until the end of December 2024.”
>
> — Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister, Conservative Party; Article by the Prime Minister on GOV.UK, 4 October 2023

- **Status:** Delivered
- **Status ladder:** Promised → In plan → Legislated → Funded → Delivering → Delivered
- **Policy area:** [Transport & economy](https://ledgergov.uk/promises/area/transport-and-economy)
- **Speaker:** [Rishi Sunak](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/rishi-sunak), Prime Minister
- **Party:** [Conservative Party](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/conservatives)
- **Made on:** 4 October 2023
- **Where:** Article by the Prime Minister on GOV.UK
- **Deadline:** 31 December 2024
- **Cost a year:** No costing published
- **Who it affects:** People paying single bus fares in England outside London
- **When:** Until the end of December 2024
- **Paid for by:** Money that would have been spent extending HS2 beyond Birmingham, moved into Network North ("we will take every pound that would have been spent extending HS2 and invest over £36 billion into Network North")
- **Quote source:** https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/what-the-plan-to-launch-network-north-means-for-you (checked word for word at its source on 20 October 2026; Open Government Licence v3.0)
- **Last updated:** 21 October 2026
- **Card:** https://ledgergov.uk/promise/uk-bus-fare-2-to-2024

## Where it stands

The Department for Transport says the £2 cap on single bus fares ran from 1 January 2023 until the end of 2024, and was replaced by a £3 cap in England outside London from 1 January 2025. The cap's last six months ran under the government that took office on 5 July 2024, which kept it in place until the date he named.

## Timeline

- 4 October 2023, Promised: The Prime Minister says the £2 bus fare will be kept until the end of December 2024, as part of Network North
- 31 December 2024, Deadline: The £2 bus fare is due to run until the end of December 2024
- 1 January 2025, Delivered: Department for Transport: the £2 bus fare cap ran from 1 January 2023 until the end of 2024 and was replaced by a £3 cap from 1 January 2025 ([evidence](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-2-bus-fare-cap))

## About the cost

No separate figure for the bus fare in the article: it is one of the schemes in the £6.5 billion he named for the rest of the country.

## Sources

- [Prime Minister's Office: What the plan to launch Network North means for you (4 Oct 2023)](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/what-the-plan-to-launch-network-north-means-for-you)
- [Department for Transport: £2 bus fare cap to be extended and bus services protected with new funding (17 Feb 2023)](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/2-bus-fare-cap-to-be-extended-and-bus-services-protected-with-new-funding)
- [Department for Transport: Evaluation of the £2 bus fare cap](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-2-bus-fare-cap)

## Checks

- Verified by Pavel Guzhikov, checked by AI Journalist; approved on 21 October 2026.
- Checked by AI Journalist (automated) on 20 October 2026.

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