Schools fares now available for most routes!

Central Connect are now able to confirm our pricing for our school bus services for the 2026-2027 academic year. We apologise that this information has been published later that would have been preferred. There has been a short delay in preparing the information to be published whilst we consolidated our fare zones and restructured the fare offerings of four previous operators into one.

Further information, including a breakdown of routes by school is available at https://www.central-connect.co.uk/schools.

Where a service is provided on a dedicated basis to a school, we will be offering dedicated schools fares, which are:

£5 Single - on bus only
£8 Return - on bus only
£33 Week - on bus & on app
£130 Month - on app only
£420 Autumn Term (Spring & Summer terms £340) - on app only
£999 Academic Year - on app only

These prices have been set to ensure the operating costs of all of our school bus services are covered, so that the services remain viable and sustainable to operate. Unfortunately, our dedicated school bus services, even where they are registered as a public service, are not included within the National Bus Fare Cap.

We are aware that many parents have previously paid by Direct Debit. Following the merger of operations between Simonds, Flagfinders, Konectbus, Konectbuses and Central Connect this is not something we can continue providing; however following receipt of extensive parental requests, we have reinstated the option to purchase monthly passes.

Please note: Week and Month tickets are not currently available to purchase on our app but will appear from the week commencing 24th August.

Special fares apply on Suffolk One ‘O’ routes and West Suffolk College ‘B’ routes. These routes are operated under contract to Eastern Education Group, who set the fares; we simply sell the tickets for those routes on their behalf. Central Connect tickets are not valid on Suffolk One ‘O’ routes and West Suffolk College ‘B’ routes; you must have one of the special tickets available on the Central Connect app under One Sixth Form College and West Suffolk College/Abbeygate.

Where a service is provided as part of our regular public network we are able to offer our regular network fares to provide greater value for parents and students. We’re no longer offering term or Academic year passes on our main network as the value of these would have been almost identical or surpassed by our 3 Month and Calendar Year passes, both of which remain available to purchase for scholars. Please be aware, our main network fares will be subject to a review from Sunday 30th August. Information on these changes is available. Month, 3 Month and Year products for our new main network fares will be released for sale on Sunday 30th August.

For full information on fare structures and timetables for each route, please see https://www.central-connect.co.uk/schools - but as an overview we have summarised this information below.

Entitled Service 7/7A:

This service is run under contract for Essex County Council. Scholar passes are available on request for each term or the full academic year. These passes will be issued via the Central Connect app only. Due to the complex fare arrangement in place on route 7/7A which is set by Essex County Council, passengers wishing to purchase scholar tickets for route 7/7A should email [email protected] with the subject 'Scholar Tickets 7' and with details of their intended boarding & alighting stops.

Routes falling under dedicated fares:

• 703, 704, 716 & 973 operated for Suffolk CC.
  • Sudbury Zone tickets WILL be valid on service 716 between Sudbury Tesco & Thomas Gainsborough School (inclusive).
• 901, 902, 903 & 907 Stanway School.
• All 8XX routes except 816 (Special Fares) & 836 (Hertfordshire Fares).
• Hedingham School HD Routes.
• Plume School PL1&2.
• Manningtree School M Routes.
• Thomas Lord Audley 110, 111 & 112.
• Tendring Tech TL & TU Routes.

All other routes will use our main network fares.