A COUNCILLOR has slammed First Manchester’s decision to increase fares from the beginning of 2019.

Cllr David Chadwick called the rise “counter-productive” and said it was likely to mean even less people using bus services.

It comes after First announced that most single passes, daily, weekly and monthly tickets, and season tickets will increase in price as of January 2.

The company says the decision to raise fares is based on ‘rising business costs’.

Amid the changes, the First says it has frozen fares for some tickets on its mTickets app.

Cllr Chadwick, Bolton Council’s executive member for transport, said: “It seems there’s an annual round of putting fares up and I just think it’s counter-productive.

“It seems like more and more people are getting taxis because the price of fares just keeps going up.”

Across the country, bus use everywhere except London hit a five-year low in the last 12 months and Cllr Chadwick suggested that this trend could continue unless more is done to reduce the cost of tickets, especially on key ‘arterial’ routes through the borough.

As of yesterday, single-journey tickets will cost commuters more money, with those costing £3.40 rising by 10p, and those costing £4.20 rising to £4.40.

FirstWeek mTickets and bus tickets will also both increase by £1, while FirstMonth mTickets will go up by £4.

In September, First Manchester introduced ticket machines, enabling customers to pay for their bus tickets in new ways, including via contactless.

Ian Humphreys, managing director at First Manchester, said: “These changes are essential to allow us to continue to operate the highest level of service possible for our customers. We have worked hard to keep any increases to a minimum and continue to offer customers the best value fares via our mTickets App.

“Our focus on encouraging more customers to purchase mTickets will continue, as this helps improve journey times and punctuality, which are all factors that we know are vital to customers.”

Diamond Buses, another company which runs services in Bolton, also announced that it will be raising its fares. In April, Diamond took over the 571/572 Bolton to Great Lever circular and the 575 between Bolton and Horwich when the routes were abandoned by First, now all ticket prices will rise by 20p. For a full list of the changes on First services, visit www.firstgroup.com/manchester.