Budget bus fare row: ‘The £2 cap was a rare policy that dramatically improves lives – it’s so cheap people talk about it’

Keir Starmer is missing the point of the £2 bus fare.

He’s failing to recognise that investment in public transport encourages travel and tourism and gets people to work, thereby boosting the economy. Meanwhile even a 10% increase in price leads to around 4.9% reduction in journeys.

He’s ignoring the fact that this extremely cheap bus fare puts money directly into the pockets of people who most need it (like the 5 million people in transport poverty) and who are most likely to spend it, thereby boosting the economy.

He’s sending the message that bus users aren’t that important, undermining Labour’s excellent wider policies to improve buses – like Labour mayors taking public control of networks in Greater Manchester, Liverpool and West Yorkshire, and national legislation building on this success.

But crucially, Starmer has failed to understand the very nature of this policy and the vision at the heart of it.

It’s about prices being so cheap that people actually talk about it

The £2 bus fare cap is not just about prices being vaguely affordable. It’s about them being SO cheap that people actually talk about it. They have conversations about bus travel, they gasp out loud when they hear the cost. The £2 bus fare is surprising, noteworthy. That’s the beauty of this bold policy and it will be lost if the government goes ahead with a 50% cost increase. British people love a bargain and hate having one taken away from them.

In the past 24 hours I’ve talked to a bunch of people about the government’s plan to increase the cap.

I was genuinely surprised that everyone I spoke to already knew about the cap. A friend who I’ve only known as a cyclist knew about the cap and said it had encouraged her to take the bus occasionally.

READ MORE: Bus fare cap row rumbles on as Burnham sticks to £2 cap

My taxi driver was well informed about the policy. I myself have been commuting to work regularly across the country on a £2 bus.

Newspapers have been having fun reporting just how cheaply you can get around the country by bus.

The BBC reported how one man used the £2 fare cap to travel 137 miles by bus! The journey involved 5 buses and cost him just £10!

A rare policy that dramatically and visibly improves people’s lives

Lancs Live reported that for £2 you can travel nearly 27 miles, with 90 stops, from Lancaster to Blackpool. They praise the policy as helping with the cost of living, the climate emergency and giving people “a good excuse to explore the beautiful county of Lancashire for less than the price of a cup of coffee”.

According to a Transport Focus poll, 80% of the public thought the existing policy helps with the cost of living and more than 40% said bus journeys were replacing ones they would have made by car. The policy changes the equation for car drivers by making public transport vastly more attractive.

It’s really rare in this country, particularly in the past 14 years, to be able to point to a policy that dramatically and visibly improves people’s lives. The fact that this policy was introduced under the last Conservative government is to their credit. The fact that a Labour government is making this policy meaningfully worse speaks to an absence of vision that is hard to understand.

Instead of increasing the cap to the point where the policy becomes unremarkable, the government should go in the other direction and make bus travel free. That would prove they are on the side of working people – working people take the bus – and the climate. It would be a huge boost to public transport and the economy.

Making bus travel substantially worse will stick in the minds of voters

Pie in the sky? Hardly. As Transport for Quality of Life explains, fare free public transport “is already happening in around 100 towns and cities worldwide, including more than 30 in the USA and 20 in France, as well as in Poland, Sweden, Italy, Slovenia, Estonia, Australia and elsewhere”.

Tallinn in Estonia  was one of the first cities to make public transport free for residents in 2013, to ease the burden on people’s wallets and the city’s roads. Getting rid of ticket machines and revenue collection processes saved a significant amount of money.

Since March 2020, the 640,000 citizens of Luxembourg now have entirely free public transport. The list includes trains, buses, trams and even the funicular railway. Residents are full of praise for the scheme: “Since it’s free, it’s easier to make a decision quickly, to choose between public transport or private car. This means that it is very positive for the environment and practical.”

READ MORE: The tax rises and spending plans to expect as PM revises bus fare cap and reveals back-to-work package

Cities across France have been following this trend. Montpellier in France made public transport free in December 2023, and in the first five months journeys jumped by more than 20%. In Calais passenger numbers rose by 70%. Clermont Ferrand is the latest French city to offer free public transport.

Increasing the bus fare cap to £3 will save the government around £350 million upfront – a mere 1.6% of the £22 billion the government says it has to raise. But has the impact been calculated in terms of journeys, the local economy, the increase in poverty? (Putting to one side the corrosive impact of bus users across the country feeling crushed that a new Labour government does not seem to be on their side.)

Going even cheaper than the £2 cap or making fares completely free would be wildly popular, memorable and visionary. Making bus travel substantially worse will stick in the minds of voters for all the wrong reasons.

Read more of our Budget 2024 coverage:

• Keir Starmer Budget speech: Key points and stream as PM vows tax rises to stop austerity
• Labour’s Budget 2024: What policies could Rachel Reeves announce?
• ‘No fiscal rule is perfect. But this one means welcome investment’
• Fiscal rules: What is Reeves changing – and why does it matter?
• ‘We can avoid taxing workers by hiking capital gains tax’
• ‘A case against cuts, from the winter fuel allowance to the £2 bus fare cap’
• Minister says ‘normal’ for cabinet to seek good deal for departments amid unrest over cuts
• ‘How Labour can fix the worst economic inheritance since 1945′

• SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected]. 
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Read more of our Budget 2024 coverage:

• Keir Starmer Budget speech: Key points and stream as PM vows tax rises to stop austerity
• Labour’s Budget 2024: What policies could Rachel Reeves announce?
• ‘No fiscal rule is perfect. But this one means welcome investment’
• Fiscal rules: What is Reeves changing – and why does it matter?
• ‘We can avoid taxing workers by hiking capital gains tax’
• ‘A case against cuts, from the winter fuel allowance to the £2 bus fare cap’
• Minister says ‘normal’ for cabinet to seek good deal for departments amid unrest over cuts
• ‘How Labour can fix the worst economic inheritance since 1945′

• SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected]. 
• SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning. 
• DONATE: If you value our work, please donate to become one of our supporters here and help sustain and expand our coverage.
• PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or content, email [email protected].