Government announcement on bus fares

Well it's one less post in 1000 with anything useful

I'm a big believer in public transport and think it should be subsidised to provide reliable services at an affordable price. However, if this policy isn't also accompanied by a review of under-served areas of the country then its only purpose is slightly reducing the cost of a service for those already using it which feels like a poor use of money.

What’s that got to do with bus fares?

An announcement to say prisoners will not be released early will be good to hear.

Perhaps she thinks those people who don't have a job should rot at home. The temerity of them - daring to have somewhere to to go that isn't a place of work.

?

Looks like it

The original £2 cap was introduced by the Conservative government in January 2023. The increase to £3 was announced by Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the Autumn Budget, taking effect in January 2025

It's a shame you were still in school in 2022.

That's just what we need; the government funding more businesses who aren't making enough money for their shareholders. It's gone so well with the water companies and train companies hasn't it?
Time to re-nationalise public transport!

Absolutely this. The fact that these 'rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic' policies are what he has launched with, frankly beggars belief. £45 quid a year off bill which will be wiped out by the uplift in the price cap anyway and bloody buses. He is so parochial it's embarrassing. The cabinet is stuffed with his mates and he is acting like he is running a parish council.

Last time I checked there isn't a specific london minimum wage.
Many, many of us in the capital are just about breaking even.

The govt DOES pay bus firms subsidies to run the services at a loss, likewise they pay bus firms for OAP free bus passes. The buses aren't running services for just £2 or free without government funding to do so.

England only
*cries in Scottish

It's neither unfounded nor unfunded

Our village bus services were scrapped around 2005, under both a Labour national government and a Labour local government. Our village library was closed the year afterwards, again under Labour.

Wasn’t it Labour that increased the cap from £2 to £3 originally? So Burnham has just reversed a policy that clearly didn’t make as much money….

Is the government going to offer compensation or subsidies to the bus companies who can’t turn a profit as a result, or increase salaries for their drivers, and go out of business?

I assume you mean unfunded. This is how it will be funded:

"This action to ease the cost of living is funded through an extra £454m (including funding for devolved governments) which comes from a reprioritisation of DESNZ’s budget, switching funding that had been set aside for international climate finance projects into loans"

The only thing people have been able to say about Burnham’s tenure as Manchester mayor was that he did good things with buses.

his second policy as PM is bus related.

in the meantime he’s appointed two people to his cabinet who recently had to leave due to misconduct and chosen a foreign secretary who will antagonise our closest enemy

channeling Miranda Priestly - “groundbreaking”

Free buses for all kids in education including uni students. Not much can be done when living rurally. It cost me £30 a week to get my two kids to school, that was 8 years ago with the cheapest tickets and I still had to drive them 3 miles to a bus stop. School is not something you can choose not to do.
There is no bus to the nearest school, you would have to setoff at 6.30am, take3 buses to get there for 9am. We should have more school o ly buses but wouldn't be cost effective, £550 per year upfront (per child)the ones near me, so expensive.

I think it is good.

Generally a lot of bus journeys tend to be used by younger/poorer people getting to work and education. This puts more money in their pocket and I think it is a good thing that young people are encouraged to work.

The potential downside is that it might end up with a lot of money being shovelled towards the owners of bus companies.

It's a small drop in the cost of living but will be a welcome one for many people.

Most people in London aren’t really paying 1.85 for a bus journey of say 30 mins.

its just part of a longer journey with tube etc. so 10 mins bus to station or tube into London and maybe bus a few stops at the end. Generally covered by a monthly travelcard. Or even the daily price cap if doibg a few journeys that day.

if not having a travelcard I tend to not use the bus for 10 mins journeys -unless I can go there and back in under an hour when the second journey is free.

Really? that's a stretch.

Have all your buses been cancelled since Labour came in? If not that doesn’t make sense.

London weighting is generally a few grand a year at most. It doesn't scratch the surface of the higher cost of living. Yes, there's more job availability, but more competition too.

In any case, anyone particularly aggrieved by the 15p bus fare discrepancy is free to move to London to take advantage of it!