Mayor’s Fares extended after getting more people using buses in West Yorkshire

More people in West Yorkshire are using buses since the introduction of the Mayor’s Fares reduced pricing, according to a recent survey.

A quarter of the people surveyed by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority said they were travelling by bus more – with two-thirds of those people saying this was because of the price cap.

Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, introduced Mayor’s Fares in September 2022 to help make travel around the region easier and cheaper and to help people with the cost-of-living crisis.

The scheme guarantees that nobody pays more than £2 for a single journey across West Yorkshire. This initiative was followed by the Government in January 2023 with the rollout of a national £2 fare.

In West Yorkshire, this will continue until at least March 2025 after councillors on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee voted to allocate further funding at a meeting on Monday.

Of the 1,028 respondents, over 40 per cent said Mayor’s Fares has helped them manage the cost-of-living crisis, whilst nearly 60 per cent agreed the scheme makes it easier for them to get around West Yorkshire.

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said: “I’m delighted to see that our trailblazing Mayor’s Fares have had such a fantastic impact on bus use.

“This success proves that there is an appetite for well-priced bus travel in West Yorkshire.

“Our Mayor’s Fares are helping us build a better-connected region where more people use greener and more sustainable ways to travel so I’m delighted we're able to extend into 2025.”

Half of respondents who said they used the bus more often switched from using private motorised vehicles.

And more than half of the people surveyed said Mayor’s Fares has saved them money personally, and over 60 per cent are likely to recommend using the bus to others because of the cap.

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford City Council and Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee, said: “We know the cost-of-living crisis continues to have a major impact on families and individuals across our region.

“So it is really positive to hear that since this scheme was introduced, more people have used local buses to travel to see friends, loved ones or to work because of the cheaper Mayor’s Fares.”

A link to the survey results can be found online.