Changes to the way students buy bus tickets

From Wednesday 1 November, there will be a few changes to fares and payments on our buses. Students aged over 18 will no longer be able to buy boost tickets on the bus from the driver.

Boost and simplyUni tickets for students will be available from the app to purchase as well as online via a smartcard (or from our bus shop in the Broad Street Mall).

However, with the extension of the £2 adult single fare cap and other changes to Boost prices, you may find that buying an adult ticket is the same price as getting Boost. For example, the new price for a single Boost ticket is £2 within the simplyReading area – the same price as an adult ticket thanks to the Government fare cap.

Tap on Tap off

We are also introducing tap on, tap off from the same date. This can only be calculated using the adult fare, so if you decide to tap on and off using your contactless card or device, you will have your fare capped at the Adult day ticket price. If you want to use Boost, you will need to buy your ticket off the bus via the app or online.

From Wednesday 1 November the best fares for students travelling within simplyReading will be:

Adult ticket

This will be the best option if you only need a single ticket or all-day travel within the simplyReading zone.

Available on the bus from the driver, on our app or with tap on tap off.

	on bus / app	tap on tap off
single	£2	£2
all day	£3.50 (£3.40 on app)	£3*
short hop (Kendrick Student Village to Campus)	£1.60	£1.60

*until 31 December, then £3.40

Our all-bus ticket allows for all day travel around Reading and includes journeys on other operators such as Thames Valley Buses, Thames Travel and Arriva within the simplyReading zone. Please note that whilst there is a Reading All-Bus young persons ticket, it is restricted by age and not by academic participation, so you should not try to buy this from the driver unless you are aged 18 and under.

Boost ticket

This will be the best option if you plan to travel more than a few days a week or if you want to take advantage of the savings from our multi-trip tickets such as boostSaver10 (10 single tickets which you can use when needed, valid for a year) within the simplyReading zone.

These tickets are only available to buy on our app or from our bus shop as a smartcard. You may be asked to show your student ID when using these tickets.

	app	bus shop
7 day	£13	£14
30 day	£50	£52
boostsaver 10	£16	£16

 

simplyUni

This will be the best option for any student planning to make multiple journeys a week throughout the university term or year within our simplyReading zone.

These tickets are only available on our app or from our bus shop.

	App or bus shop
Autumn term	£127
Spring term	£127
Summer term	£95
Academic year	£370

 

journeys outside of the simplyReading zone

For students who need to travel outside of our simplyReading zone, a single or return journey is likely to be the adult £2 fare cap anyway. If you are travelling a more than three or four times a week, it might be better value to get a Boost period ticket via the app or as a smartcard online.  

verification

In order to purchase boost tickets on our app, students will need to verify their ID on our app first. To find out more, click here.