Bus fares across Liverpool city region will be cut under £12m proposals put forward by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram. Tony McDonough reports
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram is proposing to cut the cost of bus journeys across Merseyside to £2.
On Wednesday, Mr Rotheram unveiled his £12m plan which could see passengers save up to 13% on daily fares. It will be subject to approval from the Combined Authority on June 10. City region bus operators will also need to agree.
Fares will be pegged to the agreed level for an initial three-year period. Mr Rotheram is also freezing the price of the MyTicket pass at £2.20 until 2025. MyTicket allows young people all-day unlimited travel.
There are also plans to simplify the region’s wider ticketing system under a ‘tap and go system’. This would cap daily fares. It would also guarantee passengers would always pay the cheapest fare.
Earlier this year the Liverpool city region revealed plans to take full control of the local bus network. This would reverse the deregulation introduced by the Government in 1986. And it would bring the city region into line with London.
Mr Rotheram said: “One of the reasons I ran for metro mayor was the opportunity to revolutionise our broken, fragmented public transport system. Hundreds of thousands of people rely on buses to get about every day. Yet too many tell me that they are too expensive, unreliable and confusing.
“We took a major step forward on this when we chose franchising as our preferred model. This latest announcement will help ease the burden on people – especially during the cost of living crisis. It will make it cheaper for people to get about.
“This is just a down payment on my wider ambitions. I’m fighting to win London-style funding to revolutionise our buses, trains and ferries. I want to bring them together into a transport network that is better connected, faster, and cleaner.”
The £12m Bus Services Improvement Plan (BSIP) allocation will be used to fund these measures. They are designed to encourage more people to use the bus by helping them travel further for less.