Does Borders Buses discriminate against Northumberland residents? asks Norham resident Tom Miers.
Buses are a staple of rural life for anyone who can’t use a car. The network across the Border area is remarkably extensive. Operated for the most part by Borders Buses it’s an essential service. It’s handy for me after a decent lunch or a pint with friends in Berwick, but more importantly for young people (I have two teenagers) and anyone else who can’t drive it’s crucial for work, shopping and socialising.
We moved to Norham from the Scottish side a few years ago and something has puzzled me ever since about the key 67 route from Berwick to Cornhill and on to Kelso and Gala: Tickets are more expensive for residents along the Northumberland part of the route not just than for Scots but for people elsewhere in Northumberland.
Borders Buses has said that they do not offer discounts to English users of the 67 route because it goes on into Scotland after Cornhill. But that’s neither here nor there. If you travel from Norham to Berwick say, or Horncliffe to Cornhill, your journey is wholly within Northumberland. Why can’t young people and others benefit from the same discounts as bus users along other routes?
There are growing calls to Borders Buses to rethink its fares along the 67 route between Berwick and Cornhill amid claims that the bus company discriminates against residents of the Tweed villages.
I’ve contacted not just Borders Buses, but Northumberland Council, the local MP and the North East mayor’s office. All have made sympathetic noises without addressing the central issue of discriminatory pricing on journeys within England.
Norham parish council has joined the fray. At one meeting I attended a Norham lady explained how she’s had a friend from Coldstream to stay. They had decided to get the bus to Berwick. She had to pay the full fare while her friend had a free ticket – on a journey wholly within England – paid for by the Scottish Government.
Of course, the Scottish angle confuses the issue somewhat. Scottish residents using the 67 route have their travel subsidised by the Scottish government. I understand from the various authorities that discussions are ongoing about reciprocal arrangements for English residents taking the bus into Scotland. This is clearly a more complicated (and rather separate) issue, though bus journeys across jurisdictions are common, so it shouldn’t be impossible to work out.
Currently Borders Buses offers no discounted or capped fares for Northumberland users of the 67 route despite these being available for its customers elsewhere in the county. Tickets are capped at £3.00 on other routes such as the 267 service from Berwick to Wooler and young people benefit from the the ‘£1 to get around’ fare. But those travelling to Horncliffe, Norham or Cornhill must pay the full adult fare. A single ticket from Berwick or Cornhill costs £5.35 and a return £9.70.
It’s bizarre that Borders Buses discriminates against residents of the Tweed valley route in this way. Using the bus from Berwick to Cornhill and all points between is unaffordable for many people as a result. They are in effect denied access to public transport. There’s no reason why the same discounts shouldn’t be available to all residents of Northumberland, wherever they live.
In the meantime Borders Buses should surely offer Northumberland residents along the 67 route the same fares as they do to their other customers within the county. The North-East mayoralty has explained to me that Borders Buses have found it difficult to find a way to limit sales only to journeys wholly in Northumberland. But this seems to be a minor technical issue. Transport companies up and down the country have no problems segmenting ticket sales to particular parts of the route.
Let’s hope they work it out soon. In the meantime anyone who lives between Berwick and Cornhill is effectively a second class citizen as far as Borders Buses is concerned.
The 67 Borders Buses route serves Berwick, Tweedmouth, East Ord, Horncliffe, Norham and Cornhill before crossing the border and going on to Kelso and Galashiels.
Tom Miers moved to Norham from the Scottish Borders in 2021.