The affordability of public transport has become increasingly difficult, due to the current cost of living crisis. These concerns are shared at the heart of Government and tangible action is therefore being taken on bus and rail fares to help millions of people travel at reduced cost during this challenging period.
The £2 bus fare scheme, which forms part of the Government's wider Help for Households initiative, is designed to help passengers with travel costs for work, education, shopping and medical treatments over the winter months while they are facing pressures from the rising cost of living. This significant investment will result in millions of people across England saving on travel costs. The £2 single bus fare scheme has also been extended to the end of October, continuing to save many people across the country on bus journeys. In November, the cap rises to £2.50 for 12 months before the prices are to be reviewed again.
In relation to the local train services, I share everyone’s frustration at recent cancellations and reliability from local service providers such as TransPennine Rail and understand the harm they cause, especially those announced at short notice. I would like to assure you that the Government remains committed to alleviating pressures felt by customers and remains in regular dialogue with the TPE operator. At the end of January, I had the opportunity, along with some of my colleagues, to grill rail bosses, including Graham Meiklejohn from TransPennine Express, on why, despite this being brought to their attention, cancellations remain unacceptably high. Graham accepted the service was unacceptable and personally apologised.
Despite these attempts to try and improve the service, little change has been seen and so the Department for Transport said that TransPennine's contract would not be renewed on 28 May.
It will now be run by an "Operator of Last Resort", which means a business will step in on behalf of the government to take over the management of the service. Under operator of last resort, services will run as normal with no changes to tickets, timetables or planned services with the department committed to ensuring a seamless transition for passengers.
After many concerned messages from local residents, I have written to Northern Rail about their changes to the Brigg-Kirton Lindsey line, and why they have decided to implement such changes. As of yet, I have not received a reply but will update constituents when I do.
