THE collapse of Webberbus has led its chief rival – The Buses of Somerset – to raise its fares.
Ticket prices will return to the level of a year ago with a hike on September 4 and again on January 1.
The company has issued leaflets for customers listing the new ticket prices and explaining the reasons for them.
“So we could compete, we had to match the lower prices of Webberbus, meaning customers benefited from very low fares for quite some time.
“While these could be sustained in the short term, in order to run a viable business that is stable for the long term, we need to phase in new fares, returning them to their previous levels by January 2017.”
The ’Changes to Your Fares’ leaflet says the ticket costs will also enable the company to invest in better buses, facilities and services in future.
“We’re only returning our prices to those of a year ago, but we know it’s still a significant change for customers – so, to help, we’re phasing them in.”