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.