Dr Susan Kenyon argues that a rise in England’s bus fare cap from £2 to £3 hurts the environment and increases exclusion – both concerns for ‘working people’.

The bus fare cap in England will rise from £2 to £3, Keir Starmer has announced. 

His justification? That this is necessary, to fix the public finances – and that working people welcome this. 

But working people need buses to get to work. Without an affordable bus service, many working people won’t be able to work. Because of this price rise, many working people will be – well – just ‘people’. 

The problem, put simply, is that we need to travel to take part in activities. If we can’t travel, we can’t take part in activities and the activities that we can’t take part in are important: education, employment, healthcare, leisure, seeing friends and family, going food shopping… 

Before he raids the transport budget, Keir Starmer must recognise that investing in Britain’s ‘crumbling public services’ is worthless if people can’t access those services. The New Labour government in 1997 prioritised investment in transport, because it recognised that investment in social policies, education, employment, health, housing and poverty reduction. They cannot succeed unless we also invest in their accessibility. 

We have known for a long time that lack of affordable public transport leads directly to poverty and social exclusion. We have also known, for a long time, that making public transport more expensive reduces its use, with devastating impacts for the environment, including climate change, air pollution, noise, resource use, land take… 

This short-term quick-win will have long-term costs for the environment, reinforcing our car dependence and making the transition to greener transport modes much more difficult in the future.   

The rise from £2 to £3 per single journey may deliver immediate savings. But it will also increase exclusion and increase environmental harm, costing far more in the longer term than is saved today. 

Dr Susan Kenyon is a Principal Lecturer in Politics.