Helping your employees to get to the workplace by bus is a great way to improve employee well-being, retention and boosts your company’s environmental credentials. The free to businesses Employee Discount Travel Scheme can help you deliver these benefits with minimal effort.
Until 31 March 2026 businesses with workplaces based in Derbyshire, East Midlands Airport and East Midlands Gateway benefit from discounts of up to 20%.
Many bus companies have deals in place with companies to issue discounted tickets. Funded by UK Government via the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), Derbyshire County Council is topping up the discount to match that of the bus operators.
Cheaper fares is one of the objectives of the National Bus Strategy and this scheme further helps people who use the bus to get to work as well as encouraging more people to try out the bus.
The five biggest bus companies in Derbyshire offer tickets under the scheme:
Tickets are fulfilled directly by the bus operator who then claims the match funding from the Council reducing administration for local businesses.
If for any reason you don’t think that public transport is right for your team, operators are happy to discuss with you: timings, shift patterns, routing and stop locations amongst other items to make public transport work for you and your teams. If there are other ways in which we can promote public transport as the first choice for travelling to your workplace then we are happy to discuss this with you.
We’ve created a short guide of who to contact and how their ticketing options work. If you are still unsure, we have a team of bus champions who are available to help you out on bus.champions@derbyshire.gov.uk.
Each operator has its own way of delivering tickets and we’ve worked together to ensure that wherever you wish to travel there are options available to cover Derbyshire.
Arriva - Alvaston, Chaddesden, Chellaston, Derby, Littleover, Melbourne, Mackworth, Oakwood, Sinfin, Swadlincote, Wyvern Business Park
Diamond Bus - Chellaston, Derby, Dove Valley Park, Doveridge, Hatton, Sudbury, Swadlincote, Tutbury
High Peak Buses - Ashbourne, Bakewell, Belper, Buxton, Derby, Glossop, Matlock, New Mills, Whaley Bridge
Stagecoach - Bolsover, Chesterfield, Clay Cross, Clowne, Dronfield, Eckington, Matlock, Shirebrook
trentbarton - Alfreton, Ashbourne, Bakewell, Belper, Derby, Heanor, Ilkeston, Long Eaton, Matlock, Newton Solney, Ripley, Tutbury and Chesterfield via Clay Cross and Hasland
With the transition to the East Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority in 2026 there are still some decisions on longer term funding to be made. Whatever the decisions which are reached, operator discounts will still be available which is at least half what is offered now.
If you are unsure what to do then please reach out to our Bus Champions on bus.champions@derbyshire.gov.uk. Our Bus Champions are experts at finding the right solutions for you and your employees.
Several of our bus companies also offer their own good value multi-trip tickets.
Find out about Multi-Trip TicketsIf you need to get in touch with Travel Derbyshire, the DCC Public Transport team, or with one of our operators, details can be found here.
Find contact details