London bus fares will remain frozen at £1.75 until November 2026, Mayor Sadiq Khan announced, but passengers face a 10p increase to £1.85 from November 1. The daily bus cap will rise from £5.25 to £5.55, and the seven-day pass will increase to £26.10.
Freeze extended amid cost-of-living pressures
The current freeze, in place since March 2023, has been extended for four more months. Khan said the decision aims to help Londoners struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. Transport for London noted that if bus fares had risen in line with inflation over the past decade, a single journey would now cost £2.35.
Weekend hopper offer for summer
From July 25 to the end of August, Saturday and Sunday bus and tram travel will cost just £1.75 for the entire day under a hopper fare offer. The mayor said: 'I'm pleased to extend the freeze on bus and tram fares for another four months, and will continue doing everything in my power to keep TfL services as affordable as possible, as I know the cost-of-living crisis is still hitting many Londoners hard.'
Concerns over bus speeds and reliability
Passenger watchdog London TravelWatch welcomed the extension but warned that the inflation-busting increase in November will be hard for low-income passengers. A spokesperson said: 'The inflation-busting increase in bus fares due in November – if it happens – will be hard to take for passengers on lower incomes who depend on this form of transport, particularly when they are seeing the slowest ever bus speeds across the network or, in some cases, reduced service frequencies on their routes.'
London buses carry around five million people daily but average speeds have fallen to just 7mph, according to the Confederation of Passenger Transport, slightly above a jogger's pace.
