Single bus fares across England will be limited to £2 from January, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced, stepping in to reduce the cost of everyday travel for passengers outside London. The national cap is currently £3 for single journeys until the end of March 2027. Burnham said the new £2 limit will apply across England except London, where the mayor had already set lower top rates. Greater Manchester, also where Burnham previously set a £2 cap as mayor, has similarly had a lower ceiling for single tickets. What the cap will doBurnham said the measure will be held at £2 throughout 2027. He described it as reversing a rise introduced by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves in 2024, when the £2 cap that had previously been in place was lifted. A £2 limit had run from January 2023 to December 2024, but the incoming Labour administration at the time argued it was not affordable. Some metro mayors, including Burnham, funded extensions of the lower fares in their areas even after the national change, maintaining cheaper single tickets locally. Burnham’s announcement also said the policy is intended to help people travel for day-to-day needs while easing pressure from the cost of living. Funding and costThe government said the £2 cap is supported by £454m in funding, including money to allow devolved administrations to adopt similar approaches. Of that total, around £400m will be raised by switching investment in international climate finance from investment models to loans. The remaining funding will come from savings in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero budget. The overall cost of the scheme is expected to be more than £500m, with the rest met through Department for Transport funding that is already allocated to buses. Political background and government responseThe policy reverses the increase applied after the previous national £2 cap ended in December 2024. During that transition, Labour argued at the time that extending the lower fare limit nationally would be difficult to afford, though some local areas continued lower caps through their own funding. Chancellor John Healey said the measure would cut fares by a third compared with the current £3 cap and said it could be paid for through savings made elsewhere, rather than by adding a burden to British taxpayers. Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, said the plan would make journeys easier and cheaper for people travelling day to day. Burnham said he wanted to ensure transport costs do not exclude people from accessing services and jobs, presenting the cap as a direct response aimed at keeping fares affordable across the country outside London. Join the discussion? 22 July 2026
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