PASSENGERS are using a bus ticket black market in the face of price hikes.

The Brighton Secondhand Bus Ticket group on Facebook has more than 3,800 members, who can log in and trade tickets, saving more than half the price on a standard adult ticket.

Brighton and Hove Bus Company is trying to get the group shut down on Facebook. However, the website has yet to take action.

Day Saver tickets are resold on the Facebook group for about £2 – less than half the price of a standard adult ticket.

Onboard, a student day saver paper ticket is sold at £3.70 and the fare for non-students is £4.70.

Eve Plumridge, 20, from Peacehaven, who commutes by bus to work in Brighton each morning, said: “The people stepping on to their buses every day are ordinary people.

“If they can get a bit of money back from a ticket they no longer need or save a bit of money by buying one from the Facebook page, then of course they are going to do that.”

Sophie Pester, 19, who studies at the University of Sussex, said: “It’s frustrating that we can’t get a simple return. They only sell day savers to make more money.

“For a student on a budget, the price can limit the amount of times you can afford to get off campus each week.”

The price of some tickets will rise by 0.8% next month.

A one-day saver ticket bought on The Key – also known as a day rider – will rise by 10p to £4.20 and an annual saver will rise by £30 to £540.

Desna Tatler, a spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove Buses, said the Facebook group was against the terms and conditions of carriage.

She said: “We have notified Facebook of the page advising them that it breaches intellectual property rights but we can’t get the page shut down.

“We have also previously taken action against certain individuals and carried out penalty fares and warnings to act as a deterrent.”

The bus company provides a certain number of free bus passes to the University of Sussex Student Union for students in financial difficulty.

Changes to bus ticket prices

PASSENGERS who buy bus tickets in advance will have to pay more from next month Brighton and Hove Bus Company customers face a 0.8% rise buying pre-paid fares through the mobile app or The Key card.

However, there was good news for those who buy their tickets from the driver on the bus, with a price freeze expected.

The 0.8% increase will mean the price of a one-day saver ticket bought on The Key Card – an Oyster Card-style electronic system – would end up costing 10p more.

The bus company has also frozen all pre-paid and on-bus student and child fares until April 2016 and more discounts have been introduced.