Bus fares in a part of the region will continue to be capped at £2 for a single journey until the end of March 2025.
Fares were due to increase to £3 a journey in the new year after the government announced it would be increasing the cap.
However, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has agreed to subsidise bus fares in the area to keep the £2 cap in place.
Mayor Dr Nik Johnson said: “Keeping fares as low as possible for our residents maintains our commitment to better buses, helping people get to places of work, education and leisure more affordably, and encouraging people to choose public transport.”
The £2 bus fare cap for a single journey was introduced by the previous Conservative government.
The scheme had been due to end on December 31, but in October the new Labour government announced it would continue to cap fares into 2025, but said the cap would be increased to £3 for a single journey. Last month a call was made for the Combined Authority to subsidise bus fares in the area in order to keep them at £2.
The authority has now agreed to do this until March 2025 and estimates the subsidy will cost it £1million.
The money for the subsidy is proposed to come from an underspend of bus improvement funds, which the Combined Authority said had to be spent this year. The subsidy was agreed by the Combined Authority Board at a meeting on December 13. It also agreed that any consideration on extending the fare cap beyond March 31, 2025 would be part of the 2025/26 budget setting report in January 2025