Under-25s £1 bus cap extended until March 2027

A £1 bus fare cap for under-25s that one user said helped them "put food on our table" has been extended until March 2027.

The Tiger Pass was introduced last year across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and since then 60,000 passes have been issued.

A meeting of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority board approved extending the scheme, which one member said had "been a victim of its own success".

Some students told the BBC without the pass they would consider leaving college, while Phil Smith, from the Inspire Education Group that runs Peterborough College, said "it's not just the individuals that are benefiting, it's the households as well".

The college group had one of four public questions at the meeting, quoting from one student who said: "I personally use the Tiger Pass as a financial backbone when it comes to travelling, as currently my household income isn't enough to sustain us, so any little bus savings can help us put food on our table."

Mr Smith said the extension was a "huge result", adding: "It's not just the students that are at college, it's the ones that are not in education, employment or training at the moment... allow them better access, social mobility will be increased as a result of that as well."

Scarlett, 16, said it would cost her £18 a week to travel from St Ives to go to the Huntingdon campus of Cambridge Regional College without the Tiger Pass.

"My dad leaves [for] work early, my mum can't drive. I wouldn't be able to travel besides from bus so I probably would have to stop going to college," she said.

Paul Bristow, the Conservative mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said the pass had been "hugely successful" and plays a "crucial role" but that getting to this point had "required sacrifice".

A report to the authority states that longer-term funding to fully support the ongoing cost of the scheme had not been identified.

The meeting heard the highest uptake of the pass has been in south Cambridgeshire, whose district council leader Bridget Smith told the meeting: "The Tiger Pass has been a victim of its own success. I don't think any of us ever envisaged 60,000 passes being issued.

"This isn't just about freeing up young people's money so they can have cheap bus travel, it's about opening up access to education, to work and to a social life."

Lucy Nethsingha, the Liberal Democrat leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, said it had "not been easy" getting to a point where it can be extended, adding a "substantial chunk" of the funding was coming from her authority.

Fenland has the lowest up take for the Tiger Pass scheme, and its Conservative district council leader Chris Boden said the reason for this was in the area "there aren't the bus services".

"If you haven't got a bus service or the bus service is very poor then what is the incentive to have a Tiger Pass? You've got nothing to use it on.

"We do need to ensure accessibility to public transport more widely in areas of need than is the case at the moment," he added.

Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.