Changes to fares from Monday 31 October

3 years ago Mon 24th Oct 2022

The cost of running our bus services has significantly increased.  This has meant we have had to review the cost of our fares, and have reluctantly increased some ticket prices. This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We have kept any prices rises to a minimum and some fares are not changing at all.  Most of the changes will happen on Monday 31st October, except for our Explorer tickets which will increase on Monday 14th November.

The good news is our £10 weekly city zone ticket remains unchanged.

The best value tickets for regular travellers are on our app.  And for those that buy singles or dayriders we recommend you use tap on tap off contactless, for paperless ticketing.

Some of our single fares will increase by approximately 10p, 20p or 30p and some of our return fares will increase between 20p and 60p.

Day tickets

Ticket type Zone Old Fare New Fare
Holiday Group City £6.60 £7.00
Adult dayrider Southampton £3.80 £4.00
Child dayrider Southampton £3.00 £3.20
Adult dayrider Southampton plus £6.00 £6.60
Child dayrider Southampton plus £4.80 £5.20
Group dayrider Southampton plus £15.50 £17.00
Adult dayrider (x5) Southampton plus £29.50 £31.50
Adult dayrider (x10) Southampton plus £59.00 £62.00
Adult dayrider (x20) Southampton plus £118.00 £122.00
Adult dayrider Bluestar network £8.30 £9.00
Adult dayrider (x5) Bluestar network £40.50 £43.00
Adult dayrider (x10) Bluestar network £80.00 £84.00
Adult dayrider (x20) Bluestar network £159.00 £166.00
Adult Explorer Network £9.50 £10.00
Child Explorer Network £6.20 £6.70
Group Explorer Network £25.00 £27.00

Period passes and multi-trips

Ticket type Zone Way to pay Old Price New Price
multi trip (x7) city app £8.00 £8.50
Adult 7 day Southampton paper £16.00 £17.00
Adult 7 day Southampton app £15.00 £16.00
Adult 7 day Southampton theKey £16.50 withdrawn
Adult 7 day Southampton plus paper £19.50 £21.50
Adult 7 day Southampton plus app £17.50 £19.50
Adult 7 day Southampton plus theKey £20.00 withdrawn
Child 7 day Southampton plus paper £14.50 £16.00
Child 7 day Southampton plus app £14.50 £16.00
Adult 7 day Network paper £28.00 £30.00
Adult 7 day Network app £27.00 £29.00
Adult 7 day Network theKey £29.00 withdrawn
Child 7 day Bluestar Network paper £17.00 £18.50
Child 7 day Bluestar Network app £17.00 £18.50
Child 7 day Network paper £22.00 £24.00
Child 7 day Network app £22.00 £24.00
Adult 30 day Southampton paper £48.00 £52.00
Adult 30 day Southampton app ££47.00 £51.00
Adult 30 day Southampton theKey £50.00 £57.00
Adult 30 day Southampton plus app £64.00 £70.00
Adult 30 day Southampton plus theKey £71.00 £79.00
Adult 30 day Network app £102.00 £111.00
Adult 30 day Network theKey £110.00 £125.00
Adult 90 day Southampton app £125.00 £135.00
Adult 90 day Southampton theKey £135.00 £150.00
Adult 90 day Southampton plus app £157.00 £170.00
Adult 90 day Southampton plus theKey £163.00 £180.00
Adult 90 day Network app £238.00 £255.00
Adult 90 day Network thekey £248.00 £270.00
Adult annual Southampton app £425.00 £460.00
Adult annual Southampton plus app £525.00 £570.00
Adult annual Network app £780.00 £845.00
Adult multi-trip (x12) Southampton app £18.50 £19.50
Adult multi-trip (x12) Southampton thekey £19.00 withdrawn
Adult mulit-trip (x24) Southampton app £36.00 £38.00
Adult multi-trip (x24) Southampton theKey £37.00 withdrawn
Adult multi-trip (x36) Southampton app £51.00 £54.00
Adult multi-trip (x36) Southampton theKey £52.00 withdrawn

You will notice some prices are more expensive on our smartcard theKey, which is now over 10 years old and is considered old technology. Cheaper ticket prices are often found on our app.

theKey system is no longer being developed or supported and of late we have sadly experienced some technical issues causing inconvenience to some of our customers. Therefore, we are phasing out this method of buying bus tickets over the coming months. By the beginning of summer 2023 it will be discontinued. This will be a gradual process. Initially we will stop selling ticket types with very low sales.  Some ticket types that are withdrawn are available on our app.

Many customers have already converted to our app which has many other great features, such as:

  • Journey planning
  • Tracking buses in live times
  • Favouriting your regular bus stops and journeys

We have several newer convenient ways to pay, including:

If you would like support in converting to the app, our team in the travel shops are more than happy to run you through a demonstration.