Burnham's stealth taxes pay for bus reform. What's next?

Andy Burnham - Mayor of Greater Manchester

THE Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has announced that elderly people who live in Greater Manchester who are entitled to a concessionary free bus pass, are to be charged an annual  £10 'administrative charge' to pay for the overhaul of the region's bus network and to defend any legal challenges from operators opposing bus reform.

Currently those people who qualify for a free bus and live in Greater Manchester, are entitled to use the bus, tram and train, free of charge within the 'Greater Manchester Rail and Metrolink' without having to pay any admin fee. Transport officials believe that the admin charge which they hope to introduce next January at the earliest, will raise around £1.25m. The plan to introduce the admin charge was given the go-ahead at a recent meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).

Burnham says that the admin charge is necessary to raise money to overhaul the region's bus network and to create 'parity' with 16-18-year-old's who were recently given free bus passes by the Mayor but have to pay a one-off annual £10 fee. He also says that the admin fee will only have to be paid by those people who want to receive rail and tram access and does not apply to people who only use bus services. 

Unlike people who live in Greater London, Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland, who are entitled to a free bus pass when they reach the age of 60, in Greater Manchester, the qualifying age for many people is now 66-years-old. Before 2010, most people in Greater Manchester qualified for a free bus at 60-years-old, but the qualifying age for entitlement was increased incrementally in line with the state retirement age.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester says that the region does not get the level of public transport subsidy that London gets and that if the people of Greater Manchester want the type of public transport they have in London, people will have to pay for it. Already, a two-year market study into bus reform in Greater Manchester has cost the taxpayer an estimated £20m.

One suspects that Burnham's 'administrative charge' is just the thin end of the wedge, a foot-in-the-door, a kind of salami tax, which will lead to further taxes increases to fund services in Greater Manchester. Just how much money Greater Manchester have saved in not providing free bus passes for 60-year-olds, the Mayor doesn't say nor does he seem keen on fighting for the same level of transport subsidy for Greater Manchester that London enjoys. 

Our Buses in Greater Manchester Aren’t Working

Better Buses for GM

Article written for GMPA by Pascale Robinson

Pascale Robinson

Right now, bus operators can’t be forced to run any service, and they set the fares, but in the next year, we have a huge opportunity to change this wild west scenario.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is deciding now whether to pick a better way of running the bus network, re-regulating it, which puts buses back into public control.

37% of Greater Manchester’s job seekers said that lack of access to transport is a key barrier to getting work, backed up by JRF research in low-income neighbourhoods in Manchester. This is in one of the UK’s biggest and best city regions.

People from the poorest fifth of households catch nearly 10 times as many buses as trains. For lots of us, without a bus we’re stuck. Across Greater Manchester, many reported that cars and trains are simply out the question in terms of price. However, with buses their last option, they highlighted how expensive fares and unreliable services prevent them from taking up positions, and how the un-joined network can mean commutes of over three hours a day (over Jobcentre Plus’ limit for reasonable travel).

Our bus network is not serving us. Instead people are being locked out of opportunities for work. With re-regulation, or franchising as it’s known, a fully integrated and planned network across GM’s 10 local authorities could connect us to our work places, our loved ones and the services we need at affordable fares, as we see in London.

What does this mean? Re-regulation means companies are told by local authorities what services to run, when, and how to set the fares. It also means local authorities can:

• Plan and expand the network – Profits from busy routes could subsidise less busy but needed services. Right  now, bus companies cherry pick only profitable routes and make a killing, but local authorities could use profits to give everyone a better service.
• Make buses affordable – Income could be used to lower fares, which have increased 55% above inflation in the last ten years.
• Make buses reliable – Bus companies would have to share data – meaning buses don’t disappear from the time table or app.
• Make buses frequent – Income could also be used to provide evening and weekend services, like we had before.

This would transform buses for a lot of us. Re-regulating in GM would set a precedent across the UK for a bus network that serves people, not profit. We’ve launched a petition calling for re-regulation and it already has over 5,000 signatures, but we want twice as many so please sign and share the petition to join the call for better buses.

Right now, we have a postcode lottery and a poverty premium, with richer areas often getting the better routes and cheaper fares, at least during commuter hours. Public money is used wherever possible, to plug gaps where there is need, however this is an inefficient use of public money. Better Buses for Greater Manchester found that on average £18 million a year is going to shareholder pay outs in the North West region.

Re-regulating our bus network would mean that Greater Manchester could have publicly controlled buses which connect communities to where they need to be.

Join the campaign by signing the petition now: www.betterbusesgm.org.uk

We’d also love to hear from you. We need organisations, businesses and groups to pledge their support for the campaign. Whether you can offer your logo to show support, as GMPA have, or your time, or both, we need as many people speaking out for better buses as possible.

To find out more about the campaign, please say hello at Pascale@betterbusesgm.org.uk