Bus fare cap an "easy win" for Burnham, now he must go further on transport and back the disabled bus pass campaign

Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough has backed the party’s campaign to keep Britian moving by capping national bus fares to £1 and is calling on Andy Burnham to scrap disabled bus pass restrictions.

The MP has secured a 10 Minute Rule Bill to remove the time restrictions. It will be debated in Parliament with the potential to become law this September.

During his time as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham met with the Yorkshire MP to discuss transport policy and removed time restrictions on disabled bus passes in the city.

Tom said:

“Andy scrapped the disabled bus pass restrictions in Manchester, if it’s good enough for Manchester it’s good enough for everywhere else.  We need to keep that energy going now he’s in Number 10 and make them work all day, in North Yorkshire and all over England.

“It’s a postcode lottery as to whether your disabled bus pass works before 9am, we need to remove barriers that make it harder to get to work and hospital appointments.

Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson, Olly Glover MP, said:

“We called out the bus fare hike from the very beginning, so it’s a relief to see the cap back down to £2. This was an easy win for Burnham, but now the work of transforming transport for the whole country must begin.

“The Government is still leaving millions behind. Bus routes are the backbone of economic activity in communities across our country, and he must not forget about rural communities with few or no bus services at all. We need the Prime Minister to deliver for the whole country.

“Burnham should now look at our emergency measures to ease costs that have soared due to Trump’s illegal war in Iran - capping national bus fares at £1, slashing rail prices by 10%, and cutting fuel duty by 10p per litre.”