Millions of people will save a third on bus travel as Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a cap on single bus tickets at £2 during his first week in office. Mr Burnham has announced the change in a bid to try and tackle the cost of living struggle faced by households across the UK.
New cap from January 2027
Bus passengers will benefit from cheaper fares from January 1 2027, and for the rest of the year. Maximum fares will be slashed by a third. The last £2 fare cap saw an estimated 30 million more journeys taken by bus in just 10 months.
According to the government, the cap on fares outside of London will help millions of people across the country access affordable bus travel more easily, breaking down barriers to travel for people struggling with the cost of living, opening up opportunities and boosting local economies.
Help for rural and coastal areas
The cap will particularly help passengers in rural and coastal areas to save money, where single fares can be higher. As he announced the new plan, Mr Burnham said: "Good, affordable transport links are an essential. No one should be priced out of those and left behind."
"But for too long people have said that cheaper transport isn't an option. I don't accept that. I've done it before and I will do it again now, a £2 cap on bus fares for millions across the country."
He added: "Lower fares will help people get to where they need to – giving them breathing space to help with the cost of living. As I said on my first day in office – I will build a country for everyone, everywhere. That means more connected communities, better access to opportunities, and a lighter load on people's lives."
Funding and other measures
The action to ease the cost of living is funded through an extra £454m (including funding for devolved governments) which comes from a reprioritisation of DESNZ's budget, switching funding that had been set aside for international climate finance projects into loans.
Currently, fares have been capped at £3 until the end of March 2027, but today's move will stop prices jumping next spring and lower fares to £2 from January.
Today's move comes after the Government announced £100m for free bus travel for all children in England aged 5-15 on participating services this summer.
Summer savings and electricity bill help
The Great British Summer Savings scheme will help families with the cost of living this August, with further savings at restaurants and attractions in time for the summer holidays.
Further immediate action has been taken by the prime minister this week. Millions of households across the UK will benefit from help with their electricity bills during winter.
The government is tackling rising bills with a tax cut to remove VAT from domestic electricity bills from October 1 in time to impact the next Ofgem price cap. This immediate action applies and is funded for this financial year.
Cutting VAT on electricity bills is expected to take around £45 off the yearly Ofgem price cap in October. This is on top of the £150 removed from bills at the last Budget.
The government has stated this will be funded through the cancellation of the Digital ID programme, which was going to cost £1.8bn over the next three years.
