Andy Burnham has been urged to reintroduce a national £2 cap on bus fares. The new Prime Minister is reportedly keen to implement a £2 limit on single bus journeys nationwide as part of measures to help with the cost of living.
The previous Conservative government had a £2 cap, but Labour increased it to £3 in January 2025. During his time as mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Burnham kept local fares at £2 and, according to The i Paper, now wants to extend that across the country.
North East mayor's call for action
North East mayor Kim McGuinness told council leaders on Tuesday that restoring the £2 cap would “make a massive difference to the people of our region and beyond”. She has capped bus fares in the North East at £2.50 and warned that a lack of long-term financial backing from Whitehall could jeopardise the project.
Ms McGuinness said that England had been the “most centralised country for far too long” and that Mr Burnham arrived in Downing Street with “really high expectations” of reversing that. She added: “I think, as an illustration of how London-centric and at times elitist this country can be, I have heard over the last couple of days a number of commentators saying things along the lines of ‘oh, he’s talking about doing something with the buses, but what about the real policy?’
Cost of living and bus fares
“I think that is so backwards when it comes to what really affects people day to day. In this region and elsewhere across the country, the cost of living is the single biggest thing worrying people. We know more people use the bus than any other form of public transport put together. An intervention on buses that is about the cost of living… if you don’t think that is real policy then you need to take a step back and have a think about what you expect from leadership in this country.”
The mayor is currently running a 12-week public consultation on plans to take the North East’s bus network under public control, similar to Mr Burnham’s Bee Network in Manchester. Around 3,350 people have taken part so far.
Her vision would see private companies like Stagecoach and Go North East lose control over fares, routes, and timetables, and instead bid for contracts to run services to terms set by public authorities. Transport bosses believe reversing the deregulation of the 1980s would make bus fares 22% cheaper after 10 years and lead to 15.7 million extra journeys annually by 2059.
