Six out of ten people want to see London-style buses across England
63% of people said that rolling out London style standardised pricing should be made easier
More than six out of ten people want to see London-style standardised pricing across England.
Over 2,000 people living in the UK aged 18 and over were polled about the Levelling Up Agenda by the 'We Own It' campaign group.
'We Own It' is a group campaigning for public ownership, against privatisation of public services.
The Levelling Up Agenda is a governmental programme aimed to spread opportunity more equally across the UK.
63% of people said that they believe the process for implementing London-style public control of buses should be made easier as part of the government’s levelling up agenda.
62% of people believe the ban on new bus companies should be overturned.
Governments National Bus Strategy
Today is the anniversary of Boris Johnson launching his flagship National Bus Strategy, calling for a “bus revolution”, promising to deliver better services for passengers across England.
A spokesperson at We Own It disagrees and says: “Boris Johnsons flagship National Bus Strategy has so far failed to deliver - we feel this campaign couldn't come at a better time.”
‘We Own It’ are launching a new campaign about a public control of buses. The campaign is to demand that the government follows through on its promise to review the ban on local councils setting up their own publicly owned bus companies.
Andy Burnham’s legal ruling
The Mayor of Manchester has been campaigning for better transport both nationally and in his own region.
Last week, there was a legal ruling on Andy Burnham's plans to bring Greater Manchester's buses into public control.
A judge ruled in favour of Andy Burnham’s plan to bring buses into public control, ruling against the judicial review raised by two private bus companies.
Manchester's major Bus announcement
In an announcement yesterday, Manchester have confirmed cuts in fares is on the way.
Matthew Topham, Better Buses Campaigner at We Own It said: "It is brilliant that Greater Manchester is cutting bus fares, and this is a real example of what public control can do. However, the fact that it has taken years of campaigning, consultations, and legal fights for one of England's biggest cities to be able to set their own bus fares shows just how desperately we need to make the process for implementing public control easier.”
“Passengers have had enough of unreliable transport and rising fares, and this is demonstrated by our polling that shows 63% of people said that they believe the process for implementing London-style public control of buses should be made easier as part of the government’s levelling up agenda."
Matthew added: "Council owned buses run the most successful services in the country. They’re reliable, affordable and popular.”