End of the line for 80p bus fares

QUESTIONS . . . Oldham Mayor, Councillor David Jones

Oldham’s roads are about to get even busier with almost one in 10 pupils who travel by bus switching to their parents’ cars.

Transport chiefs calculate that 9 per cent of school bus users will turn to cars as a result of their decision to scrap the 80p concessionary ticket for half fares after next month.

The figure was revealed by GMPTE chief executive David Leather after questioning by Oldham Mayor, Councillor David Jones, as Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority met to fix its budget for the next financial year which will save £9.3m on concessionary fares.

School pupils, pensioners and the disabled will all pay half fare before 9.30am, though pensioners will still be able to travel for nothing on buses, trains, and trams after 9.30am.

Councillor Jones and his labour colleagues — who say they were not consulted about the budget cuts — abstained in the vote on the budget after angry exchanges with members of the Conservative/Liberal coalition which rules the transport authority.

GMPTE is to lose 100 jobs and authority chairman, Councillor Ian MacDonald, said drawing up the budget to satisfy Greater Manchester’s 120 council leaders was “the most difficult process we have ever had to go through.”

Manchester Labour leader, Councillor Andrew Fender, said that not enough thought had been given to the effect of the concessionary fare rises on bus patronage. The budget, he said, “takes us back nearly 40 years.”

He demanded that the authority now makes urgent progress on Oyster-type smart cards to boost the bus usage lost by the fare rises. Former chairman, Councillor Roger Jones, described the move as “shameful”.