17 February 2023
With England facing hundreds more cuts to bus services due to the ending of government support [1], the Green Party is calling for the introduction of a £1 single fare on all routes across the country.
Coined, ‘A One Pound Fare to Take You There,’ the policy seeks to increase usage of buses – passenger levels in most areas have never fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
The Greens are also calling for free bus travel for everyone under 21, and protection of existing schemes such as free local bus travel for over 60s in many areas.
They say these incentives must be coupled with huge investment in new buses and bus services and to ensure there are no cuts to existing services. They also want to re-regulate bus services with all regions operating a franchise system, where local authorities determine routes and frequencies, as is currently the case in London and Manchester.
The Green Party say they would pay for bus service improvements by scrapping the £27bn road building programme – diverting this money to public transport – and allocating a proportion of their proposed carbon tax [2] to fund the £1 fare and free travel for under 21s.
Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:
“A One Pound Fare to Take You There scheme and free travel for under 21s must be combined with major investment in buses and bus services to boost bus travel across England.
“We also need our buses to work for people, not the profit of large private bus companies. This is why Greens want to see greater powers for local councils to set routes and frequencies rather than private companies cherry-picking the profitable routes while leaving other passengers out in the cold and some communities completely cut off.
“Subsidising public transport can result in savings elsewhere, cutting the costs of congestion, reducing health costs associated with air pollution and helping tackle carbon emissions and the huge costs we will incur from the climate crisis.”
Green Party councillor Ellie Chowns, Cabinet Member for Environment and Economy on Herefordshire council, which introduced free weekend buses using Covid recovery funds [3], said:
“Low cost, or even free buses, is not pie in the sky. Here in Herefordshire we had a hugely successful trial of free weekend buses using Covid recovery funds.
“Across Europe low cost and free buses are a reality in many places too. Germany is introducing a heavily discounted monthly transportation pass; Luxembourg offers nationwide free public transport and the French city of Dunkirk provides free buses and trains which has led to less traffic and discouraged car use [4].
“Low cost or free public transport is all about political choices. We can pay for high quality public transport by scrapping the damaging road building programme and diverting this money to public transport, and allocating a proportion of our proposed carbon tax policy into funding the One Pound Fare to Take You There scheme.”
Notes
[1] Warning hundreds of England bus services face cuts – BBC News
[2] Greens call on government to bring in carbon tax at COP26 | The Green Party
[3] FREE Bus Travel in Herefordshire on Weekends – Hereford City Council
[4] Free public transport gains traction in Europe – DW – 06/05/2022
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