Bus users may have to pay more for two-way journeys after a return fare was scrapped.

Eric Duffin, of The Ridgeway, Marshalswick, has to use the 653 Uno bus to get to St Albans station, and was told that instead of paying a £3 return fare he would have to buy a single for £1.80.

Eric, who works in IT in London, said: “Although they have reduced the price of a single ticket from £2 to £1.80, all those people who regularly commute into London and get a return ticket are faced with a 20 per cent fare increase.

“There’s a large number of people who use that bus to get from Marshalswick to the station.

“There was a notice up in the bus saying they have modified some season and return tickets. We haven’t seen any advance warning and I wasn’t offered any alternative.”

Eric said that although Uno offered weekly bus tickets to save on money, “that requires you to be going in five days a week. That’s certainly not for people who go two or three days into London on a regular basis”.

“They’ve done this with some subterfuge.”

Uno Buses managing director James Thorpe said: “Following a review of fares and customer ticket buying patterns we no longer offer return fares for travel wholly within St. Albans but have put alternative options in place to offer better value for money for our customers.

“Our review of purchasing data found that return fares were not widely used for St Albans journeys with most customers buying singles or longer term period tickets.

“We are now offering tickets which will reduce costs for the majority of our customers including a monthly St. Albans rover ticket which allows unlimited travel in St Albans for just £2 per day assuming 20 days of travel in the month.

“The fares revision was communicated on the Uno Bus website, twitter feeds and notices on buses and customers are advised to visit www.unobus.com for further information.”