Demand to keep West Midlands bus fare cap at £2 and scrap increase to £3

In a rare show of unity, councillors from Solihull’s ruling Conservative group along with Green Party and Liberal Democrats called for the cap on single bus fares to be maintained at £2 rather than £3.

The single bus fare cap will rise to the new cost from January 1 after being announced in Labour’s autumn budget.

Coun Ade Adeyamo, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the authority, brought a motion opposing the change to the latest meeting of the full council.

Introducing it, Coun Adeyamo said: “This will cost the typically working person who commutes on the bus each day an extra £450 a year.

“Bearing in mind the current cost pressures on the residents of Solihull, including the government’s choice to remove the Winter Fuel Allowance and the refusal to scrap the two child benefit cap, this will put even more pressure on those least able to afford this price hike.”

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Conservative councillor Ken Hawkins said it was a “serious issue” and offered support to the motion and requesting an amendment calling for West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker, to develop a local scheme maintaining the capped fare at £2.

This is something the metro mayors for Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Liverpool had introduced for their areas.

“The need for the motion is important,” the councillor added. “Some residents are maybe immune to the fare increase because they purchase season tickets. However there will be many residents who cannot afford to pay that amount up front. They will pay most of the burden.

“Solihull needs a bus service that meets the needs of our residents but is equally affordable for all residents.”

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Coun Hazel Dawkins, the only Labour councillor on the council, then spoke against the motion: “The government is having to fill the black hole of over £20 billion after 14 years of Tory government.

“We need to make sure we are rebalancing the books. Bus franchising is taking place in the mayor’s term, residents can take part (in the consultation). In that we will be able to set our own cap.”

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Liberal Democrat councillor Kathryn Thomas said: “This motion is about the affordability of bus services.

“It has also come up 46 per cent of Solihull’s carbon emissions is transport – in order to tackle that we need to encourage more people to use public transport. Increasing the fares is not the way to do that.”

The motion passed when the vote was taken, with the one vote against from Coun Dawkins. The meeting was held at the Civic Suite on December 10.