Tom from amateur ramblings made this very interesting comment which warrants blogging
It is misleading of Mr Harris to suggest that the factors indicated should have any great effect on the cost of tickets. The company in fact pays an agreed price for purchasing it's fuel, so fuel-price rises should not affect the company in the short term. Yet in some areas, fares have risen four times in a year. Firstbus state that it's insurance costs have risen by 89% in five years - maybe if it maintained it's buses properly (famously, a few summers ago, wheels fell of TWO buses in Bristol) or didn't have to employ Eastern European drivers (who are sometimes paid less then other drivers) because of recruitment difficulties, it's insurance would have remained lower. Firstgroup have a £130 million defecit in the pension fund (across the whole group) and are trying to force through a new deal without consultation with the union.

Firstbus makes £50000 profit every day, and do invest in new vehicles (mainly on city centre routes; however, they do operate many early morning, evening and weekend services with subsidy, and like many operators, use blackmail to secure these additional funds - they tell the council that provides the (taxpayers) money that if there was to be a cut in funding, they will stop running the subsidised services.

£3.30 a day is clearly a ridiculous amount to charge for such a dirty and unreliable service, and is actually forcing people back into cars.

Following my recent complaint, I was awarded a two week bus pass but i sent it back; even with free bus travel on offer, I would still choose to pay £2 a day to go by train.