Labour's Plan for Better Buses
With a Labour Government in Westminster and a Labour Mayor in West Yorkshire, we can kickstart a revival of bus services across England.
top of page
%20(1).png)
The Tories' broken bus system is failing Wakefield
Under the Tories' decade of decline, up to 7,000 bus routes have been lost across England, and fares have risen twice as fast as wages.
Over the last year as your MP, I have heard many stories about the state of our buses in Wakefield, Horbury, Ossett and our rural communities.
Routes axed. Services cancelled. Buses less frequent.
The Tories' broken bus system is leaving people late for work, children unable to get to school and the elderly missing hospital appointments, with our rural communities hit the hardest.
.png)
Labour's plan to fix our buses
I have continued to work with bus companies, Wakefield Council and the West Yorkshire Mayor to improve our bus services in Wakefield – and I’m launching this campaign to add your voice to my work.
But there is some good work underway. Mayor Tracy Brabin has already introduced the ‘Mayor’s Fares’ scheme, which has capped single bus journeys in West Yorkshire at £2 and day tickets at £4.50, making fares cheaper and simple.
Tracy Brabin has also committed to radical reform of West Yorkshire’s bus services, announcing in March 2024 her intention to pursue bus franchising across the region. This will place control over routes, fares, frequencies, branding and ticketing of our bus services under public control – not unaccountable private operators.
.png)
.png)
As Labour’s Shadow Minister for Local Transport, I'm working hard on plans to reform our bus system nationally.
The Tories have cut thousands of local bus services – thousands of vital lifelines that get people to work, take patients to their hospital appointments, and get children to school.
But these routes are vanishing under the Tories. Since the Tories deregulated buses in 1985, bus services in England’s regions outside London have collapsed, with 1.5 billion fewer annual bus journeys in 2019 compared to 1985 and 300 million fewer miles driven by buses per year since 2010.
Passengers are being failed by a Tory government that is out of touch and out of ideas. But Labour have vowed to deliver the biggest reform to the bus sector in 40 years.
Our plans would allow communities to take back control of bus services, giving them the power to set routes, fares and services, and plan the network in the interests of local residents.
In the first term of a Labour Government, Labour will pass legislation to:
-
Empower local transport authorities and reform funding, giving local leaders the control over bus funding they need to deliver their local transport priorities.
-
Allow communities to take back control of buses by removing barriers that limit the bus franchising powers of metro mayors.
-
Accelerate the bus franchising process, by supporting local leaders to deliver better buses, faster.
-
Step in to protect local bus networks and hold bus operators accountable.
-
Support public ownership of bus networks
With a Labour Mayor under a Labour Government, we would be able to hold bus companies to account for their services and deliver better buses for Wakefield.
I want to hear from you
about our buses
Simon Lightwood MP
Member of Parliament for Wakefield
I pledged to improve the broken bus system in Wakefield, but I can only do that with your help.
To build a better picture of our bus services across Wakefield, I want to hear about your experiences of using our local buses.
This can be anything from delays on your bus route every morning to the impact of a bus route being cut by the operators.
The more data we can collect, the better picture we can build of the state of our bus services.
So please complete my short survey and then pass it on to a friend or neighbour to fill in!
Latest campaign news:
%20(1).png)
bottom of page