Greater Manchester mayor wants more recognition of the huge societal benefits that public transport offers, and the case for providing subsidy
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham at this week’s Transport for the North annual conference in Newcastle
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has urged all political parties to make the cost of using public transport an issue at the next general election.
Speaking at this week’s Transport for the North annual conference in Newcastle, he said: “Public transport is too expensive to use at the moment. It can be cheaper for three or four people to get an Uber than it is to catch a bus. It can be cheaper to get a plane than it is to get a train. We’ve got to change that if we are going to go in the right direction as a country.”
Reducing fares would require increased public subsidy, but Burnham, an influential figure in the Labour party and UK politics, believes this should be regarded as an investment. This approach underpinned the introduction of free bus travel for 16-18-year olds in Greater Manchester.
Pretty much every other country in the world subsidises its cities when it comes to the public transport system
“Pretty much every other country in the world subsidises its cities when it comes to the public transport system,” he said. “Outside of London we’ve been trying to run a no subsidy model for decades actually under all governments and that just can’t work and it can’t continue.
“If you bring the cost of fares down you get so many benefits for people … The societal benefits of low-cost public transport – I’m not even going to mention the climate benefits – are huge actually.
“It’s good that we’ve got a £2 cap on bus fares [in England] at the moment, but we need to see that principle made permanent.”
He pointed out that the German government will soon offer a 49 Euro (£44) transport ticket for city region travel, valid throughout the country.
This story appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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