Arriva has launched a new Orbit ticket zone for their buses as part of a Hertfordshire-wide ticket review, enabling passengers to travel further for less.

From Sunday, the Orbit ticket zone will replace the existing West Herts zone, meaning passengers travelling between St Albans, Hemel and Watford will use the new Orbit tickets instead.

Day tickets will increase in price from £6.30 to £6.50 in the revised Orbit zone, which will now cover most of Hertfordshire.

Within the same zone weekly tickets will increase from £25 to £26, monthly tickets to £85 and annual tickets from £820 to £850.

To simplify ticket zones for passengers, Arriva’s 10 current zones will be reduced to eight, making it easier for passengers to know which tickets are required to complete their journey.

As part of the series of changes to services across the county, the existing North Herts zone is being withdrawn, however the North Herts Plus zone fares have been reduced to help affected customers.

In the North Herts Plus zone, day tickets are being reduced from £5.50 to £5.10, weekly from £22 and £20, four-weekly from £77 to £70, and annually from £770 to £700.

However in Stevenage day tickets will increase from £4 to £4.20, and in Watford weekly zone tickets will increase from £15 to £15.50.

For Watford passengers 10-trip tickets will increase in price from £22 to £23, and will be available as M-tickets on mobile, although 10-trip tickets will still be available at £15 for use on service 10. In Hemel Hempstead 10-trip tickets will also be available as M-tickets.

In Welwyn Hatfield zone boundaries will be extended northwards to Mardley Hill North Star on the 300 and 301 services.

Arriva marketing manager Lauren Edmonds said: “At Arriva we are constantly reviewing ways to try and improve the passenger experience.

“That is why we have made these updates to ensure that our services are easy to use for all passengers.

“We hope our passengers in Hertfordshire not only benefit from these changes but continue to rely on our services.”

More information on tickets and routes is available at www.arrivabus.co.uk