North East mayor pledges to save 'vital' buses and keep £1 fare for young people with £24m boost
by Daniel Holland · ChronicleLive‘Vital’ bus services in the North East will be protected and cheaper fares for young people retained under a £1 billion boost for services in England, the region’s mayor says.
The North East will be given a £23.8 million share of a package announced by transport secretary Louise Haigh over the weekend. That cash comes from a 12-month extension to the bus service improvement plan (BSIP) funding, which was due to run out after March 2025 and without which it was feared that publicly-subsidised bus routes previously deemed unprofitable by private operators would again be at risk of being cancelled.
North East mayor Kim McGuinness announced on Monday that she would also be using the money to continue the offer of £1 fares for young people aged 21 and under, as part of a broader £55 million package aimed at tackling child poverty. Unlike some other parts of the North, however, she is not putting the BSIP cash towards an extension of the £2 fare cap for adult passengers, which the Labour Government announced last month will rise to £3 in 2025.
The mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool had already pledged to keep the £2 limit in force in their areas, while West Yorkshire’s Tracy Brabin announced on Monday that she would use her share of the newly-announced funding to do so until the end of March. The North East Combined Authority indicated that maintaining the £1 fare for young people for a full year was Ms McGuinness’ priority and that bosses would be sitting down with bus operators to discuss introducing other lower prices.
The Labour mayor, who was elected in May this year, has pledged to bring the region’s bus services under public control – though that process could take several years. She said: "Today's announcement from the Government is excellent news for our region - this funding means we can protect vital local bus routes in our communities and keep the £1 fare for young people which I have today committed to maintaining as part of our plans to tackle child poverty."
The national £3 bus fare cap will begin in January and run to December 31 next year, with Ms Haigh indicating over the weekend that the Government was considering targeting the cap to young people rather than carrying it on more widely beyond the end of 2025. On Sunday, she announced £955 million earmarked to support bus services across the country until 2026.
The transport secretary said: “Buses are the lifeblood of communities, but the system is broken. Too often, passengers are left waiting hours for buses that don’t turn up – and some have been cut off altogether. That’s why we’re reforming funding to deliver better buses across the country and end the postcode lottery of bus services. And it’s why we’re providing over £1bn of funding to keep fares down, protect local routes and deliver more reliable services.
“This is part of our wider plan to put passengers first and give every community the power to take back control of their bus services through franchising or public ownership. By delivering better buses, we’ll ensure people have proper access to jobs and opportunities – powering economic growth in every corner of the country.”
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