Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsey has responded to government plans to cap single bus fares at £2 this winter.
The £2 cap was, he said “hugely welcome”, not least because it is an “important move to help address the cost-of-living crisis this winter”. He added that there needed to be extra funding for bus services so that councils are not left footing the bill and that the cap needed to be permanent.The Green Party are calling for a “genuine revolution” in how bus services are run, this would see £27billion axed from road building and used to improve public transport instead.
They also want to see the bus network run as a public service not for private profit, with local authorities given control over routes and fares, and improved pay and conditions for bus drivers.
Bus services in the UK have been struggling for year with one in four (27%) being lost in the past decade. The pandemic has been another severe blow with usage falling off dramatically and only partially recovering as restrictions have been lifted.
Despite this busses still play an important role in the public transport system counting for 60% of journeys. Funding to help bus services recover following the pandemic had been inadequate with the £3billion initially offered to authorities who submitted Bus Improvement Plans being cut to £1.2 billion.
Improving bus services has been promoted by the government as part of its ‘levelling up’ agenda. However, Adrian Ramsey said, it has “got stuck in neutral” with many communities seeing services get worse instead of better.
He went on to say that the Greens wanted to see a bus revolution where every community had access to a reliable and affordable service, adding “It is also no good having cheap fares for buses that don’t exist. So the fares cap policy must be matched by massive public investment in the bus network as well as an improvement in pay and conditions for bus staff to tackle the shortage of drivers facing the industry.”
Councillor Matt Edwards, Green Party transport spokesperson said good bus services were “vital to creating fairer, greener communities”. He highlighted the role Green councillors have played in improving services in Herefordshire and in Scotland.
He said, “We will continue to push for a genuine affordable bus revolution in England and believe this can be best delivered when buses are a public service not run for private profit, and where local authorities set routes and fares.”