West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin has extended the £2 cap on bus fares in the region until at least the spring, but the transport secretary has cast doubt on the long-term future of the measure.
The move follows the announcement last month that central government would continue to fund the England-wide cap throughout 2025, albeit at £3 per journey rather than the existing £2 cap.
The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) said confirmation that it will receive £36.1m from central government towards its Bus Service Improvement Plan for the coming year will allow it to continue to cap single bus fares in the region at £2, and DaySaver tickets at £5, until the end of March 2025.
Although the WYCA linked the two announcements, they apply to different financial years and it said an announcement on fares for April 2025 onwards will be made later this week.
Ms Brabin said: ‘We are committed to keeping bus fares as low and affordable as possible, while investing in protecting the bus network across the region.
‘Because we know that in order to deliver on the growth mission we must have a better-connected region.
‘Our Mayor’s fares scheme has helped get more people using buses in West Yorkshire, and I’m pleased to confirm that the £2 fare will be extended until the end of March.'
The WYCA pointed out that Ms Brabin introduced Mayor’s Fares in September 2022, before the Tory government rolled out a £2 national fare in January 2023.
It said a full combined authority meeting will take place on 29 November, where bus fares for beyond March 2025 are expected to be set.
On Sunday, transport secretary Louise Haugh suggested that the Government was considering abolishing the cap after the end of next year.
She told Sky News: ‘We've stepped in with funding to protect it at £3 until 31 December next year. And in that period, we'll look to establish more targeted approaches.
‘We've, through evaluation of the £2 cap, found that the best approach is to target it at young people.’
‘So we want to look at ways in order to ensure more targeted ways, just like we do with the concessionary fare for older people, we think we can develop more targeted ways that will better encourage people onto buses.’
The Government hinted at a more ‘targeted’ approach when announcing the increase in the national fare cap and pointed out that local authorities and metro mayors can also fund their own schemes to keep fares down, ‘as is already the case in London, West Yorkshire and Manchester’.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has already said he will maintain the £2 cap for 2025, subject to a mid-year review.
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