On Trains & Buses

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Bus Funding and Fare Caps in Scotland and Wales, and Franchising Plans from Scotland to the North East

Posted on November 10, 2026

Reading time: 6 minutes.

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Bus policy in Scotland, Wales and the North East of England has produced a run of announcements covering funding, fares and control of the network. Read together, they show governments and passenger groups working on speed, cost and accountability at the same time.

The Scottish Government’s new infrastructure fund, the £2 fare cap in Strathclyde and the extended £1 fare scheme for young people in Wales come first. Scotland’s plan for public control of the bus network and the franchising consultation in the North East follow, drawing on statements from governments, operators and passenger groups.

Bus Infrastructure Money for Scotland

The Scottish Government announced a £55 million Bus Infrastructure Fund for the 2026-27 financial year on 26^th August 2026. That is nearly three times the £20 million available in 2025-26, and it is capital funding, which means it pays for physical schemes rather than day-to-day running costs.

Stephen Flynn, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport, made the announcement ahead of the Better Buses Legislation Stakeholder Roundtable. That event brought operators, local transport authorities and passenger groups together to discuss proposals for new bus legislation, and engagement on those proposals was a commitment for the first 100 days of the new Scottish Government. Flynn said that the public rightly expects buses to run on time and described the money as only the start of a wider plan that also covers affordability.

Transport Scotland describes the fund as its primary route for developing, designing and building bus infrastructure, and it replaces both the Bus Partnership Fund and the Community Bus Fund. The stated aim is to use bus priority and other targeted improvements to cut delays and shorten journey times, while encouraging a shift away from private car use. Paul White, Director for CPT Scotland, welcomed the 2026-27 round and said that he hopes to see practical schemes with lasting benefits for bus users and their communities.

Bus Users UK took a more passenger-centred view, and Greig Mackay, its Director for Scotland, welcomed the £55 million while stressing that passengers must see and feel the results. He wants reliability, accessibility and punctuality to show up as better information at stops, improved accessibility and safer waiting areas. He also wants the money targeted where it helps most, with clear measures of success and meaningful passenger involvement in choosing projects.

Fare Caps and Young People’s Fares

Cost is the second strand of the same policy push, and the Scottish Government’s £2 Bus Fare Cap came into force across Strathclyde on Monday 7^th September 2026. It covers Glasgow, Ayrshire, Inverclyde, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Dunbartonshire, and it follows the earlier introduction of the cap in the Highlands and Islands. Participating operators charge no more than £2 for an eligible single journey, and a journey that crosses both capped areas without entering another regional transport area can cost a maximum of £4.

Because the cap applies only to participating services, Transport Scotland publishes the list of operators in the Strathclyde scheme, and it notes that operators can join or leave. First Minister John Swinney called the launch “clear action to help people save money during a cost of living crisis”. Andy Cullen, Regional Director of First Bus in Scotland, pledged to keep working with the government so that the cap succeeds, and the government intends to legislate for a nationwide cap before the end of the current Parliament.

Wales has taken a similar approach for younger passengers, and the Welsh Government extended its £1 bus fare scheme to March 2027 in an announcement on 11^th September 2026. The scheme offers a £1 single fare and a £3 day ticket to 5 to 21-year-olds on bus services across Wales and some cross-border routes. It began in September 2025 for 16 to 21-year-olds and reached 5 to 15-year-olds in November 2025, with the 16 to 21 group needing a mytravelpass to show the driver.

The figures released with the extension show over 9 million journeys made under the scheme and over 38,000 mytravelpass cards issued to 16 to 21-year-olds. Justin Williams, an 18-year-old college student from Caernarfon, uses the bus for college, his part-time job and seeing friends, and he said that the cheaper tickets have changed the way he travels. Mark Hooper, the Deputy Minister for Transport, said that the scheme is making a real difference to the day-to-day lives of young people across Wales. Lydia Horbury, Chief Executive of Bus Users UK, welcomed the extension and described affordable bus travel as being about opportunity rather than only the price of a ticket. She said that it helps young people reach college, apprenticeships, jobs and social activities.

Public Control and Franchising

John Swinney used his speech to the SNP conference in Aberdeen on Saturday 17^th October 2026 to go further than fares. He told delegates that, by the end of this Parliament, the SNP will bring the bus network back into public control through franchising and regulation. That term runs to 2031, with legislation due at Holyrood next year, and the same speech extended the £2 cap to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire from April 2027.

The proposal has drawn a fierce response from McGill’s Group, the largest independent bus operator in the UK. Ralph Roberts, its chair, told BBC Radio Scotland that he fully expected legal action, and he said that the owners would fight the plan in court. Franchising is therefore likely to be the most contested part of the programme, since it changes who controls routes and fares rather than simply adding money or lowering prices.

Greig Mackay responded to the announcement by calling it a significant moment and arguing that passengers should be central to decisions about how services are planned and run. He said that franchising must deliver a network passengers can rely on, with meaningful accountability and clear consequences when services fall short. Mackay also warned that a poorly planned transition could endanger smaller operators, which would reduce competition and choice, especially in rural areas, and he said that 2031 must not become a reason to delay improvements. He pointed to the prospect of legal action from McGill’s as a sign of the uncertainty around the proposals.

The same themes appear in another part of the UK, where Bus Users UK has published its response to the North East consultation on a proposed franchising scheme. It supports the ambition and backs a single source of journey information, consistent disruption messages and simpler fares and ticketing. It also recommends passenger advisory panels, community engagement forums, published customer experience measures and continued printed and telephone information for digitally excluded passengers, along with clear complaints standards, response times and escalation routes.

What the £55 Million Fund and the Fare Caps Mean for Bus Passengers

Taken together, the announcements attack three different problems with the same network. The Bus Infrastructure Fund targets speed and reliability, the fare caps in Strathclyde and Wales target cost, and franchising targets control over what is run and where. Each depends on the others, since cheaper fares matter little if buses are stuck in traffic and faster buses matter little if the services are cut.

The timetable for delivery is already clear in outline. Fund projects are due to proceed during 2026-27, the Strathclyde cap is already in operation, and the Welsh scheme runs to March 2027 with Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire due to join the Scottish cap in April 2027. Franchising and the nationwide cap both have the end of the current Parliament as their deadline, so passengers will judge this package on whether the infrastructure, the fares and the legislation arrive on schedule.