Thousands have received discounted bus fares under Sheffield price promise

Thousands of First South Yorkshire customers in Sheffield have been receiving discounted bus fares, thanks to the bus operator’s unique ‘Price Promise’ guarantee

First South Yorkshire reviews hundreds of Sheffield bus fares on a regular basis and reduces them when a cheaper published fare is offered by another bus company, for the exact same journey

Due to recent changes to other bus operator fares First South Yorkshire is today reminding customers that they have been receiving discounted bus fares for months, under the Sheffield Price Promise guarantee and therefore some customers may notice a change in fares over the coming weeks.

The Price Promise was launched in October 2016 and means that First South Yorkshire customers in Sheffield will not be able to find a cheaper bus fare from another bus operator, for the same journey being made. First South Yorkshire believes this helps remove any confusion caused by different fares being charged for the same journeys and ensures that customers are offered the best value for money.

Since 27th May 2018, many customers have benefitted from reduced fares under the Sheffield Price Promise, which have included some single, Sheffield FirstDay and Sheffield FirstWeek tickets. Over the coming weeks, the published fares from 27^th May 2018 will come into action, which includes:

• First Sheffield Day ticket will now be £4.20 (still cheaper than published fare of
  £4.40) on bus, but will remain £4 on the mobile mTickets App.
• Sheffield Week ticket will now be £14.50 on bus, but will remain £14 on the mobile mTickets App.
• Some £1, £2, £3 and £3.50 single fares were reduced under Price Promise and therefore may increase. Customers can benefit from cheaper single fares by purchasing 10 single trips for £18 via the mobile mTickets App, which equates to just £1.80 per trip.

First South Yorkshire is working hard to make bus travel more attractive and to combat the impact of congestion by speeding up bus boarding times. Over 30 per cent of time is spent boarding customers and in a bid to encourage more customers to switch from cash to mobile tickets, First South Yorkshire offers a more competitive price for tickets purchased via the mTickets app.

Speaking about the Price Promise guarantee, Allan Riggall, Commercial Director at First South Yorkshire, said: “We have been running the Price Promise guarantee for several years now and so some customers may not realise that they have in fact been receiving a discounted fare for several months. We want to reassure customers that we’ve reviewed hundreds of Sheffield bus fares and as part of our promise we have reduced dozens of prices for customers, but in some instances our fare is the cheapest fare offered. If customers find a cheaper fare available for the same journey, we will provide a refund, and bring our fare down.

“We’d also like to encourage our customers to switch from buying on-board tickets, to pre-purchased mobile tickets. We introduced new state-of-the-art ticket machines last year, which have enabled customers to pay for their bus tickets in new ways and data shows that boarding with an mTicket is twice as fast in comparison to purchasing a ticket from the driver, so we’re continuing to encourage mTicket take up by offering the best value fares on our mTickets App.”

For more information on First South Yorkshire tickets available visit www.firstgroup.com/south-yorkshire.

ENDS

For further information, please contact Fiona Yeadon, Lead PR Manager at First Bus on 0797 050 7783 or email [email protected]

NOTES TO EDITORS

First South Yorkshire

First South Yorkshire is one of the largest bus operator in the region. More than 400 buses transport around one million people every week, across South Yorkshire. The company operates from depots in Sheffield and Doncaster, and employs more than 1,100 staff.

For more information on First South Yorkshire please visit www.firstgroup.com/south-yorkshire

First Bus

First Bus is one of the largest bus operators in the UK, serving towns and cities across the country, with a fleet of over 5,700 buses carrying 1.6 million passenger a day. The business is:

• Focussed on improving the customer experience through investment in driver training, new technology and operations.

• Influencing customer behaviour through investment in the right digital channels, which includes smarter ticketing options and developing our apps, Web2mobile and CRM systems.

• Working in partnership with local authorities to combat road congestion.

• Committed to investing in vehicles with ultra-low emissions that assist with improving air quality.

   

  For more information about First Bus please visit www.firstgroup.com

   

  FirstGroup

  FirstGroup is a leading provider of transport services in the UK and North America. With £6.4 billion in revenue and around 100,000 employees, we transported 2.1 billion passengers last year.

   

  Whether for business, education, health, social or recreation – we get our customers where they want to be, when they want to be there.  We create solutions that reduce complexity, making travel smoother and life easier.

   

  We provide easy and convenient mobility, improving quality of life by connecting people and communities.

Each of our five divisions is a leader in its field: In North America, First Student is the largest provider of home-to-school student transportation with a fleet of 42,000 yellow school buses, First Transit is one of the largest providers of outsourced transit management and contracting services, while Greyhound is the only nationwide operator of scheduled intercity coaches. In the UK, First Bus is one of Britain's largest bus companies with 1.6 million passengers a day, and First Rail is one of the country's largest and most experienced rail operators, carrying more than 260 million passengers in 2017/18.