Government announcement on bus fares

I agree with this 100000%, it’s scandalous that school buses are excluded from this as we pay way more than £2 to get the kids to the nearest school with a bus route from where we live, and aren’t entitled to free travel as they’re not going to the nearest school 🙄

Ok - a lot of children in London will use a mixture of bus and train to get to school, so will be spending more than the single bus fare.

Most commuters will be doing the same - so even in zones 1-4 will be spending a minimum of £10 a day on commuting, up to ~£15 in that inner area.

But, in any case, London public transport can operate the way it does as it’s run by a not-for-profit operator and has massive volume of users. In rural areas it tends to be run by for profit private operators.

Id also say… if you think this is lining the pockets of Londoners… I think you are blind to the cost of everything else there…!

Ooh that’s a good idea.
But let’s also do this at the same time: as rents are more expensive in London, let’s have a global increase everywhere else and we can then subsidise a decrease for Londoners. They’ll have more money to spend on other things, so that will help the economy.
Or maybe let’s do it for childcare? More women able to work, also good for the economy. As long as the rest of the country doesn’t mind a small increase?

One of the things which puts people off using public transport is the cost in a lot of areas. If reduced fares get more people using it then routes become more viable so it is a win win. Better to have cheaper buses 3/4 full than more expensive with two or three people on.

I’m paid £14 an hour in London. Many Londoners are living in poverty.

Is your teen still under 16?
For all of August they will be free !
(at least most of the country...)

Its been £2 in manchester for yonks as part of bee network.

Londoners have high car costs though with ULEZ and C charge. So swings and roundabouts.

But now it will cost you £4 🙂

I catch the bus to work so I'm delighted.

When is Andy Burnham going to outline his vision for the U.K?

All In hearing so far are populist 'giveaways' - this £45 per year off electricity bills, or now £2 bus travel. Is this it? it just feels so parochial and uninspired.

You can’t say you want to empower local decision making and then announce this. Undermines his credibility from the off.

Unresponsive to local needs, adds costs of local councils, creates an incentive to cut services, and reduces funds for investment in local transport.

Where this is the right decision locally, make that decision locally.

Its OK for people who can use available public transport, what about the people who dont have such a thing like in rural areas where a car is essential

Because Londoners often use the bus for 1-2 stops to link up parts of the tube network. Whereas elsewhere people go much further.

Yes we are. Even if ours were £2 now, which they aren’t, that’s £100 a year cheaper just on school and back alone.

My teenager has just walked in the door from being in the town for a few hours. £3.80 in and £3.80 home again.

Who do you think is ‘making the money back’?

Buses aren’t generally cheap run by the government… they’re run by private companies and, in London, TFL. Who make a net surplus of £6m while charging under £2 per journey. Most Londoners use buses for far shorter journies than other cities… £2 for a single would mean my bus from family members house in Leeds was very cheap for the 40min journey into town but it would also mean that my London bus to the supermarket, 3 stops with heavy bags, was a rip off.

East coast of England.
Day rider is £6. £3 a single journey so you need to plan to make the most of it.
15mins into town for me- £6 for a return is a fair amount of money.
If I travel in the other direction a 6 min journey is £2.80.

the costs of a bus are irrelevant when you live in a village that gets one bus twice a week. cant get to the doctors surgery, the supermarket or the hospital.

Are you sure? My aunt used to pay £6 for a single journey on Stagecoast South East line. But an all day ticket costs £9.90 (?) and you can make as many journeys as you like in one day.

I might use the bus again then, at £3 each way it’s far cheaper to drive currently, baring in mind with the bus they are only once an hour too so inconvenient. I get the environmental impact of driving but I can’t justify £6 a day, about double the marginal cost of driving.

I don't even live rurally, but on the outskirts of a town. Our buses (2 an hour) only run from 8.45am-5.15pm, so useless for an early appointment anywhere.

None at all on a Sunday, either, and hospital appointments at either of the hospitals in the trust area involve 3 buses/2 buses and a train, or one of the 4 buses a day that go from near me. I've tried being green and using public transport for hospital appointments, and both times I was very late, due to one fuck up or another on the bus route.

This is one of the ones that don’t make much sense to me personally.

So I live say two stops from town £2. Someone else lives ten stops £2

My child needs two busses to get to school £4 but if we lived 10 minutes away it would be one bus but on a much much longer route £2.

Still cheaper to get a day ticket in our child’s case at £6 for the four busses he will need.

Seems an odd thing for them to of decided is a thing to do.

Nothing. But just adding that one announcement about bus fares is fine. Another is also needed.

Yes, it seems the worst of all words. Really minor, inconsequential and *unfunded' giveaways. What's the point?