BUS fares have increased in the city overnight - with the price of a single increasing by 17 per cent.
An adult single will increase from £1.70 to £2, an all-day ticket from £3.40 to £3.50 and group rider tickets from £8 to £9.
Nottingham City Transport (NCT) said it was the first fare increase since June 2011.
The company said that in the same period, the price of diesel had increased by 18p and inflation had gone up by 7.74 per cent.
Costs for Easyrider passes are unchanged and Kangaroo tickets will be £4.20, an increase from £4.
David Thornhill, chairman of the Notts Campaign for Better Transport, said the fares announcement was "like a curate's egg" as it was good in parts.
He added: "On the one hand, you have to applaud NCT for holding off on increasing fares for so long.
"And it's good the fare increases are not coming in across the board.
"But the increase in the single tickets will hit those in the pocket who are perhaps least able to afford it."
NCT marketing manager Anthony Carver-Smith said that the company reached the point where it could not absorb cost increases any longer.
He added: "Despite these cost increases obviously hitting us hard, we recognised that our customers were also being squeezed because of wages remaining the same, the cost of living going up and benefits being cut.
"We were determined to ensure that bus travel wouldn't be yet another area of life that was becoming more expensive and so we made it our policy to freeze fares for as long as we possibly could and we've managed to freeze them for almost three years."
The company added that Government changes to fuel tax on bus operators and increasing insurance costs had increased costs by £2 million since three years ago.
What do you think of the fare increase? E-mail opinion@nottinghampost.com.
