England to cap single bus fares at £2 from January
Burnham off to a positive start with his early cost of living announcements. Big difference to Starmer's 'things will get worse before they get better' messaging www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
MrsVB Shadow Profanity Secretary23Just said exactly this. IMHO Starmer and Reeves big mistake was starting so negatively and the cut to the winter fuel allowance (no matter the right or wrong of it) announced so early was the shit that stuck to them throughout.
Peter Keen21I've no axe to grind with Starmer or Burnham. Either of them will be infinitely better than the fagash fuhrer and >50x better than Badenoch & her corrupt cohort. But Burnham is inheriting the 2nd half of the 5 years which traditionally has been the 'good guy' side of governments' purse string cycle
David15Little things, that in the big scheme cost very little, send out the message that the government is on your side. Performative yes but moral boosting.
Microbrain12Comms are 1000x times better than Starmer so far. Simple, tangible promises on topics people care about, all framed as “breathing space”, not a panacea: Day 1: End rough sleeping Day 2: Help with bills Day 3: Bus fare cap Reminds me of Mamdani’s approach. Be interesting if it cuts through.
Merry Christmas, as in the other place.11Starmer inherited a UK that was broken, and broke by Brexit and by the greed and corruption of the Tories Starmer and Labour in the first 2 years never had the money to throw around. Now Burnham comes in and gets the credit for the UKs economy starting to move in the right direction?!
lazytitan258.bsky.social8Maybe because Starmer put things in place to repair the economy to allow Burnham to splurge? Interesting difference in how £45/year off energy costs to how the £150 off energy costs was reported! 🤦
It's all very well and good cutting 45 quid pf electricity bills and making (single) bus fares slightly cheaper, but FOOD COSTS 50% MORE THAN IT DID 5 YEARS AGO.
Bela Lugosi's Dad 🏳️⚧️ 🇵🇸21Thats almost fucking double the total inflation in that period. It's *more* than double the median average income growth. We're all getting poorer and food is costing more.
Binfire Era6A shop with no treats costs as much or more as a shop with several treats once did
elizabeth went to the seaside and ate ice cream and it was nice2When i did my masters I survived and prospered with a ‘£1 a main meal’ limit Now, finishing my studying four years later, £2 a meal is impossible
MattTS2They went from considering changing frozen tax bands to ruling it out in about 2 days
Itsalladeepend2It's almost always the lower cost items, like a supermarket's own brand products that go up the most. Anyone that works in a supermarket knows this. The breakdowns here are mad, one of the items has gone up over 100%.
leearizuno.bsky.social1It has serious consequences, a workmate of mine's brother got banged up for shoplifting and killed himself in the nick.
Binfire Era3I get through a lot of Tesco value mouthwash. Like a year ago it was 40p. Now it's 75p, and I expect it will be more next time I get some. Robdogs
MattTS2A quick check of numbers shows the Joseph Roundtree Foundation put the minimal acceptable living standard at £30.5k and the national minimum wage is around £24.8k at full time. That's a huge gap that 45 quid off energy bills and at max around £500 a year from savings in bus journeys barely touches
New £2 bus fare cap for England in 2027. Reminds me of Haigh’s words from a couple of years ago (when transport secretary): ‘buses are one of the most important engines of social justice available in transport policy.’ This cap will make bus travel more affordable & simpler for a lot of ppl.
Stephen Frost8Also out today: details of the local authority bus grant - this provides LAs with consolidated, longer-term funding. The bus fare cap will provide a welcome boost in passenger numbers, but it is the ability for long term planning & investment that will see lasting improvements made to bus networks.
Liz Crosbie #AllianceNowUK #FBPE4Pity they took the money from Net Zero.
Nick Stone1Welcome news. Has implications for the value of daily and longer term passes.
Londoners are spoilt with £1.75 bus fares already, seems crazy that people would pay much more elsewhere, and also that in London people will complain about 50p/hr charges to park a car.
Not a fan of MANY of Burnham's choices so far, but £2 bus fare cap is Very Good Actually (Before anyone starts, we have a car & one monthly bus pass, but there's 4 of us, we all still use the bus a lot, this will save us money, plus I like it will save others money too bc I am not The Protagonist)
Mog The Confessor5I am disabled in a small remote town and so heavily dependent on my car. I've become a massive fan of park and ride services if I've an event to get to in a city. If everyone's nudged to use them, our cities have so much less traffic.
Neil Turner2Being unable to drive for the next 11 months for medical reasons means I'm using buses more, so yes, this is very welcome for me specifically. As is the cut on VAT on electricity bills as we have an electric car.
We're cutting bus fares by a third for millions of passengers, making your everyday journeys a little bit easier. 🚌 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Real Gaz on a proper bike: [email protected]9Good news. Now lets improve the buses out so they are available when and where people need them. We also need many more prioritised bus lanes too so buses don't get stuck in queues of single occupancy cars.
Martin Price8Look mum, a bus stop sign I designed the template for, is being used as as a cover by The Guardian and being posted by the Transport Secretary.
