Burnham bus cap not enough

Aaron Smith, Enfield and Lea Valley Socialist Party

Two days into Andy Burnham’s new government, he announced the restoration of the £2 bus fare cap starting in January 2027. As Mayor of Greater Manchester he introduced the same in 2022 in the run-up to the launch of his newly franchised Bee Network, then later expanded England-wide by Tory Boris Johnson. Under Keir Starmer, this was increased to £3, claiming a lack of funding for the policy. Burnham was one of several Mayors who maintained £2 bus fares under Starmer’s government.

This comes 40 years after Thatcher’s bus deregulation which was forced on everywhere outside of London and later forced the privatisation of London buses. Burnham has quite rightly described this, as well as the privatisation of utilities and loss of council housing to Right to Buy, as ‘‘a series of wrong turns’’. Cities, towns and villages nationwide have seen routes slashed, and safety standards and working conditions forced into a race to the bottom. Ruthless competition prioritised profitable routes while rural and suburban areas were left abandoned and isolated with little public say. Lower ridership was then used as an excuse to further cut routes. Loss of funding in the 2010s saw whole areas abandoned and people unable to rely on buses. Rural areas especially have been hit hard, forcing people into expensive car dependency or left isolated.

Despite increasing public funding under Labour (currently £1 billion a year), buses remain heavily cut back compared to pre-2010 levels. For many, a £2 bus fare cap will have limited everyday use without a significant expansion in services. Instead of subsidising private bus companies which make massive profits, we need our buses to be renationalised, planned and run for the needs of all. Restore the thousands of routes lost over the past 40 years and deliver a high-quality, free public transport system.