A BUS fares hike across East Lancashire has been partly blamed on a Government subsidy totalling £150,000 being removed.

Return and single tickets on Transdev services will increase by around 10 to 20 pence from Sunday, it has been confirmed.

The increase is the fifth in the last 18 months for East Lancashire travellers.

The withdrawal in the bus service operators’ grant, imposed by central government, has been cited as a factor.

A Transdev spokesman said: “This partly refunded some of the excise duty we pay on the fuel we buy and it means we will be facing a shortfall of almost £150,000 this year.”

Rising fuel and insurances costs, are also said to be responsible.

“We have tried to keep the increases as small as we can and where possible have frozen some fares,” added the spokesman.

“We want people to continue using our services and have done what we can to keep the price of season tickets as low as possible for those people who use our buses most often.”

One-day silver, SpotOn and Burnley and Pendle will remain constant but other daily, weekly, monthly and annual fares will increase.

Last August, Lancashire County Council announced fare rises across subsidised services, and parents in Rossendale faced price increases when Greater Manchester Transport Executive scrapped subsidies for cross-border school travel.

The latest increase will be Transdev’s third in 18 months.