A dad-of-two wants a bus operator to reconsider its charges for a popular school route amid plans for a huge fare hike.
Ambi Ambituuni’s daughter currently uses the 85 bus operated by National Express to travel between her home in Coventry and her school in Rugby – journeys, he says, costing £165 a term.
From January 2, the same route will be taken over by Stagecoach and the fares, he adds, are set to be £75.60 a month, which equates to a 45% increase over a term.
“Our best-value tickets for young people under 19 are our seven-day Rugby & Daventry ‘megarider’ tickets, priced at £18.90,” said Mark Whitelocks, managing director of Stagecoach Midlands.
“These tickets allow travel throughout the zone on Stagecoach buses and includes travel to and around Coventry.
“This compares to the current National Express weekly ticket of £22 for the NX Outer Zone – Rugby.”
Mr Ambituuni said he learnt of the change of bus operator through a parents’ group chat which prompted him to check what the fares would be, learning his term-long outlay would equate to £302.40 – far more, he says, than he has paid previously.
“It is a substantial amount, especially given the cost of living pressure right now on parents and on guardians and I know it will be an issue many will be facing come January 2026,” he said.
The bus Mr Ambituuni’s daughter uses is popular as it serves three schools in Rugby.
He wants Warwickshire County Council and Stagecoach to consider the impact the fare increase will have.
“I think they need to look at the pricing again,” he said. “It should be like for like with what National Express is offering.
“I think that they should offer prices that are comparable. I think that Warwickshire County Council needs to put pressure on the operator given that they are the ones that offered the contract to the operator.”
A spokesperson for the authority confirmed: “The routes which will be run by a new bus operator from January are subsidised services under contract to Warwickshire County Council.”
They said: “The contract for these services was awarded by competitive tender and bus operators bid for the contract on the basis that their locally established commercial fares would apply.”
They added: “Warwickshire County Council is fully committed to discharging its statutory responsibilities for school transport to pupils living in Warwickshire who are entitled to transport assistance. Warwickshire County Council is not in a position to subsidise non-entitled pupils.
“For those parents seeking to travel on the new services we would recommend looking at the seven-day, or the 28-day, Young Person’s MegaRider ticket covering the relevant area as the most cost-effective ticket available.”
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