Today I got on a bus to get from the other campus to my flat, and I was shocked by another bus fare raise. When I first came to Sheffield last year, the bus price to go about 2 miles was 80 pence, or about $1.60. Part was through the year it was raised to a pound. Today it was 1 pound 50 pence! It's nearly doubled in one year, which seems ridiculous. The main cause is that several years ago they privatized the bus system, whereas it was city-owned before. However, they didn't bother to create real competition in the buses. 95% of the buses were owned by one company, First. This meant they could basically charge whatever they wanted. Luckily, there is some hope on the horizon. The company that owns the tram, Stagecoach, has recently bought a small bus carrier and started building a fleet of buses. They are offering a weekly joint bus-tram pass at a lower cost than the weekly bus pass from First. Hopefully First will respond with some better prices.

To put it in perspective, in London it costs less (about 1.20) to ride a bus from one end of the city to the other, considerably longer than 2 miles.