It used to be that fares had to be put up in large-ish % so that change was easier to give out - but with Oyster that's no longer the case - why can't an Oyster fare be ?1.18? Having said that, fares dropped drastically with the introduction of Oyster as an incentive to take it up - so it's not surprising that with such take-up, the fares start to rise again. It's still cheaper than it was pre-Oyster.

So with above - youa are saying that Oyster was all a con to get loads of people take it up, then hike the fares ??

As I said - one of the reasons that children use buses is bacause thay cannot get into their local schools due to the way the admissions are now done, maybe 2 miles is a far distance - why not only give kids who live more than 2 miles from their school free travel and issue them with passes and they only use them at times when they need to get to & from school, pensioners who work should also be exempt