National £2 bus fare cap will be useless if buses are cut, warns Campaign for Better Transport

Responding to an article in today’s (15 August) Daily Telegraph by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in which he proposes a £2 bus fare cap for 12 months from October, Paul Tuohy, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, said:

“Bus fares have risen at more than five times the current rate of inflation in the last decade - an unsustainable increase which has left many households struggling to afford to get around. We’ve been calling for more to be done to help with the cost of public transport, so we are glad the Government is listening. Whilst this cap will be welcome news for bus passengers, hundreds of bus routes are still under treat of closure from October, so unless addressed many people may find that they no longer have a bus to use the £2 fare on.”

Mr Tuohy added: “With RPI set to hit 12 per cent this week, we hope the Government will match this help for bus passengers by announcing a rail fare freeze next.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. Grant Shapps writing in the Daily Telegraph: Introduce a £2 bus fare cap to ease cost of living burden.
2. Bus fares have risen 63.83% in the last decade, vs 34% for rail fares and 36% for motoring costs. (source: RAC Foundation).
3. Covid-recovery bus funding is set to end on October 1^st. With bus passengers numbers still below pre-covid levels, a short fall in revenue is threatening the closure of hundreds of routes this Autumn.