The unfair fares

EVEN though bus usage is now at its highest level since 1986 according to Transport Minister Norman Baker, this figure could – and should – be even higher if the Government is prepared to listen to the concerns outlined by Leeds MP Fabian Hamilton and others in a Westminster debate that showed Parliament at its most constructive.

While many people have been priced off the roads and the railways by sky-high costs, buses are still not picking up the slack in sufficient numbers because there is an insufficient correlation between the services offered by operators and the wishes of local residents.

This is borne out by those young people who are struggling to attend college courses to enhance their qualifications, or even turn up for work, because they cannot afford bus fares following years of above-inflation increases – or due to the lack of suitable services in early evenings.

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Of course, no bus service is going to be perfect and able to accommodate the priorities of each and every individual. Yet, at a time when youth unemployment is so prevalent, it is perplexing that Ministers are not doing more to make it easier for teenagers – and others – to take advantage of the opportunities that are open to them.

After all, the bus industry is still the recipient of very generous subsidies from local authorities – subsidies that enabled the five largest operators across the UK to record profits in excess of £500m in 2011-12.

As Mr Hamilton said, there needs to be a far more robust relationship between the bus industry, local authorities and the Department for Transport to ensure that the most vulnerable – and all those without access to a car – are not taken for a ride by firms which still seem in denial about the importance of their obligations to the travelling public.