2p for your Thoughts

With forecourt diesel pump prices hovering at or about the £4.54 per gallon mark (that’s £1 per litre), there appears no sign yet that last week’s budgetary tax increase of 2p per litre will be offset for bus operators by an increase in fuel duty rebate (now called BSOG).

Without such a 2ppl rebate, local bus companies will be forced to increase fares – again. Just at a time when passengers are feeling considerably browned off after what they feel have been all too regular fares hikes in the recent past. They probably couldn’t name the date fares last increased but they just feel it wasn’t long ago.

And a vivid example cropped up this week as passengers reacted with anger in York to First's abandonment of its (under-used) ten journey ticket, a de facto increase in fares for the few who bought in bulk.

There’s some evidence to suggest that surging pump prices are responsible for a levelling of (rather than a decrease in) car journeys. It’s at this time that the bus industry needs to press home its in-built environmental advantage but any necessary fares increases may in fact have the opposite effect.

Should the bus industry welcome fuel price increases as potentially generating more business or fear them because resultant fares increases actually dampens demand? That depends on BSOG.