Budget 2024 bus fare axe fears spark outrage for 'targeting poorest'

Fears that the Labour budget on Wednesday could see the end of the £2 bus fare cap have sparked major concerns. The Chancellor is expected to abolish the cost-of-living lifeline in order to save the Treasury £350million a year. But campaigners warn this would be a disaster.

Worst-hit places could see fares jump by over £10 per journey, with critics saying that scrapping the cap would drive people off public transport. Leaked research at the weekend suggests that every £1 spent on the measure generates between 71p and 90p in benefits. This means it is “not financially sustainable” for taxpayers or bus operators analysis for the Department for Transport (DfT) concludes.

The Chancellor has been accused of betraying working people and slapping pensioners in the face as it emerged the cap, which is widely used across the South West, won’t be renewed when it expires at the end of the year. Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick said: “If Labour knew what a working person is they’d know that more often than not they catch the bus to work.

“They’re hiking fares for working people to fund pay rises for train drivers and send foreign aid to adversaries. This government is on the side of everyone but our own people.”

Former MP Matthew Parris said in his column in the Times: “Across England the last government introduced, for a trial period, a subsidised flat fare of £2 for local bus journeys. London already has such a scheme (for £1.75) and will keep it but elsewhere, in towns, villages and the regions, bus journeys typically cost around £4.50 or more. Children and pensioners get concessions but for adults without a car that’s steep: two or more together would have to consider a taxi.

“The £2 pilot has been a smashing success. It’s the simplicity as well as the saving that has caught on. More than three in ten respondents to a government poll say they are using the bus more; one in ten say they are new users. In rural England the numbers are even greater. The bus companies confirm this trend.”

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride added: “If the Chancellor presses ahead with this cut it will be yet another slap in the face of our country’s pensioners.

“Labour’s scrapping of Winter Fuel Payments was an outright betrayal of their promise to protect our elderly, and now it looks like they are gearing up to betray them again by taking away their bus £2 cap - once again picking the pockets of some of our most vulnerable to fuel their profligacy. “Be in no doubt, pensioners will never forgive Labour for this.”

Analysis for the Department for Transport, revealed by The Times, has found that keeping the cap isn’t financially sustainable for taxpayers or bus companies. The fare cap - in place across England - is set to expire in December, having been in place since January last year.

Ms Reeves has been under pressure to extend it into 2025, with its abolition understood to have sparked a backlash within the cabinet. Worst-hit places could see fares jump by over £10 per journey, with critics saying that scrapping the cap would drive people off public transport.

The Tory policy cost £200 million in its first ten months between January and October 2023. The Whitehall study found that every £1 spent supporting the cap only ended in 71-90p worth of economic and social benefits.

This means it is “not financially sustainable” for taxpayers or bus operators analysis for the Department for Transport (DfT) concludes. But scrapping the scheme at Wednesday’ “painful” Budget could still prove toxic to the Treasury.

A survey by pollsters More in Common found that 55 per cent of the public is against the move. Meanwhile, only 28 per cent think it’s the right decision.

Policy director at Confederation of Passenger Transport Alison Edwards called the decision “catastrophic for passengers”.

Director of Policy and Research at the Campaign for Better Transport, Silviya Barrett, said: “Taking the bus shouldn’t be a financial burden and raising the cap or scrapping it entirely could leave passengers struggling to afford travel on lifeline services.”

To see the areas currently benefiting from the £2 bus fare cap click here.