Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander refused to commit to the £3 bus fare cap outside London remaining in place from 2026 – saying it only covers one in six journeys
A bus fare cap keeping prices down for tens of thousands of passengers will be scaled back from next year.
The Mirror understands the universal £3 limit on single tickets will be scrapped – to be replaced by a “targeted” scheme instead. It comes after Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander refused to guarantee the measure will be protected in Rachel Reeves’ upcoming spending review.
Questioned by The Mirror at an event in Derby, she said just one in six journeys benefit from the cap. Government sources indicated that local authorities and Mayors will be given more freedom to target specific age groups or areas.
Campaigners have previously warned that single fares could rise by more than £10 in some parts of the country if the cap is lifted. The current single fare limit – which applies outside London – was raised from £2 by Keir Starmer, but is only in place until the end of the year.
Ms Alexander said: “When the announcement was made last year about the £3 bus cap, we committed to having that in place until the end of this year. One of the really important things to remember about this scheme is that it only applies to single bus journeys.
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“A lot of people who use buses regularly, for example, would be using a weekly or a monthly Travelcard-type arrangement. In fact, the cap only applies to one in six bus journeys at the moment. We are having discussions as part of the spending review, but I’ll leave it at that.”
A Government source later said fare caps will not be scrapped altogether, but could vary between locations. They said: “Under this Labour government buses are no longer the forgotten part of our public transport network.
“We stepped in to fund the bus fare cap this year at short notice to avoid a Tory-made cliff edge fare hike. But with only one in six journeys supported by the fare cap, that money could be working harder for passengers.
“We are looking at a more targeted approach to allow Councils and Mayors to maintain a cap where it makes sense for them. This fits with the wider plans we have for to support buses in our new law allowing Local Authorities and Mayors to expand bus networks in a way that suits their community, wherever they are, as well as protecting lifeline local routes for the first time.”
Mr Starmer announced in October that the current cap would remain in place until the end of 2025. The Government said the £150million was being spent on the measure – part of a £1billion investment in improving bus services.
Ms Alexander’s predecessor, Louise Haigh, previously hinted that it could be targeted at younger people and rural areas from 2026. The Transport Secretary made the remarks during a visit to East Midland Railway’s Derby HQ, where she met trainee drivers after the Government announced 18 year olds would be permitted to drive trains.
Previously drivers needed to be aged 20 or over. Explaining the decision, Ms Alexander said: “The shortage of train drivers across the UK is a big problem.
“But the age of our train drivers is also an issue at the moment, because we anticipate about a third of that train drivers retiring by 2029. And so it’s imperative that we act now. We think giving opportunity to young people when they’re leaving school or college to start an apprenticeship, start a traineeship straight away so that you can get a good job and a good career on the railways is the right thing to do.”
She also said that passengers would notice the benefits when the publicly-owned Great British Railways. But Ms Alexander said the impact would not necessarily mean fares go down.
She told reporters: “I’m clear the Great British Railways needs to be a lean, agile organisation that delivers value for money for the taxpayer. The increase in rail fares this year is actually the lowest in actual terms, real terms, over the last three years. I do understand that affordability is a real issue for people when it comes to public transport, but I’ve also got to balance that against making the railways financially sustainable.”
She continued: “We need to get more people using the railways and we need to make sure that we look to reduce costs where possible and make sure that we’re delivering value for money.”
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