Affordability
Our control over fare levels varies across the business. Greyhound apart, our North America ticket prices are determined by the parties contracting our services. In some areas of the UK we have greater flexibility in our fare structures, although Transport for London determines London fares. In UK Rail the majority of our fares are regulated by the Department for Transport and Transport Scotland.
We understand the importance of value for money tickets for our customers, and where we have control over fare structures we endeavour to offer a range of ticket options to suit our customers' needs and budgets. In response to customer feedback we continue to explore ways of simplifying these fare structures to make fare-saving opportunities easier for customers to identify.
In June we launched 'Simple Fares' in Leeds which has consolidated a complex range of single bus fares to four prices and we believe that further simplification of fare structures across our bus operations will be an important building block for further growth. In Glasgow we launched a 'Price BUSter' campaign in January to promote reduced price FirstWeek tickets.
Our passengers can save money with our FirstWeek, Monthly or Annual passes providing unlimited travel at a reduced cost. Students also benefit from discounted travel and some operating companies offer discounted youth tickets. We also operate a national cashless voucher scheme offering cheaper bus travel to government-supported groups such as the unemployed, asylum seekers and youth offenders.
Similar offers are available in UK Rail including Club 55, Super Off-Peak fares, Kids Go Free and Weekend Explorer offers.
In North America Greyhound offers a range of reduced tickets and our BoltBus $1 tickets provide very low-cost travel opportunities. Greyhound also offers $1 fares on its new Express service.
Across the business, seasonal and holiday travel offers are heavily promoted with a range of season tickets and family tickets that give significant cost reductions. Rail customers are encouraged to take advantage of early savings on advance tickets which are available up to six weeks prior to travel.
In selected locations we also offer 'carnet' multi-journey tickets for both rail and bus users. Carnets meet many customers' variable travel patterns.