Greens welcome £1bn in funding for buses but challenge scraping £2 fare cap and call for bus priority measures

Responding to £1bn in funding which the government says will deliver a London-style bus service across England [1], co-leader of the Green Party, Carla Denyer MP, said: 

“It is encouraging to hear that councils will be empowered to take control of bus services. Tory deregulation of services was a green light for axing routes, running down services and a focus only on those routes which generated a profit.  

“It is also right that funding be based on need. However, the idea that Labour's £1bn will mean a London style bus service arriving to all corners of the country is questionable. 

“Also, increasing the single bus fare by 50% while freezing fuel duty definitely wasn't the ticket. Keeping the £2 bus fare cap in England would have cost just a tenth of the money the government squandered by freezing fuel duty [2]. And too often bus reliability is affected by traffic, so we will need some bold moves on bus priority so buses can actually turn up when they are meant to.” 

Notes 

1. [1] 'London-style' bus services planned for England with £1bn boost - BBC News 
2. [2] Keeping £2 bus fare cap would have cost a tenth of fuel duty freeze, says think tank | The Independent