Parents of children who catch the bus to schools and colleges in Cornwall will once again be able to buy a monthly bus pass after “feedback” over it being withdrawn.

Concerned parents have been writing on social media and also contacted the Packet after price changes to fares saw the previous option of a monthly pass for £50, to cover all travel, no longer being an option.

Instead, parents were left facing a £20 charge every week to get their children to school. They described it as a “crazy jump”.

The withdrawal of the monthly pass affected both Go Cornwall and First Kernow.

However, Cornwall Council has now confirmed to the Packet that under the Transport for Cornwall Partnership, between the council and the two bus companies, the pass would be reinstated – albeit with a price rise.

A spokesperson said: “Following feedback from passengers, the Transport for Cornwall partnership will be reinstating the ability to purchase a monthly child bus pass from Sunday, October 6. “The cost of the pass will now be £65 and we hope to be able to keep the cost of the ticket at this price for the rest of the academic year.”

They added that bus prices had been lower over the last two years due to government funding that has been in place since April 2022, meaning customers were paying “significantly” less that they would otherwise have had to.

With the pilot project nearing the end, prices were rising as “always intended.”

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The spokesperson added: “Government funding for the bus fares pilot, introduced in April 2022, has meant we have been able to heavily subsidise more than 15 million bus journeys in the last 2.5 years.

“Without this funding, passengers would have paid significantly more for their tickets.

“The funding has allowed us to also try new ticket options and prices, to understand the preference of bus passengers in Cornwall. It was always intended to increase the cost of tickets during the pilot and back to their market value as we near the end of the pilot.

“While the decision to remove several ticketing options – including the child monthly pass - was based on data showing extremely low usage, we appreciate that this specific ticket has impacted on children who use bus services to travel to school and college, but are not eligible for home to school transport.

“We remain in discussion with Government about the future funding of bus travel in Cornwall and await news of any future bus funding as part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement at the end of the month. “The Government’s national £2 bus fares scheme for single journeys remains in place until the end of December.”