How much does your big yellow bus £2 fare cost you?

[Earthdweller]

Andy Burnham has brought the buses in greater Manchester back under pubic control with the bright yellow Bee bus network



The fares are capped at £2 max for an adult and £1 max for a child for any length of journey

So how much is this costing the taxpayers of Greater Manchester?

1/4 billion pounds a year!

https://democracy.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/docu...

Every £2 journey now costs the taxpayer some £600 in subsidy ... Is that value for money?

And next he wants to take control of the trains

https://order-order.com/2025/03/21/burnhams-bus-po...

[Southerner]

This seems to be creeping across the country, there’s a consultation about creating some sort of mega local authority down in Hampshire too, one of supposed benefits being control of bus and rail services. Buses might be doable, the authority simply places all the routes out to tender, but rail is multitudes more complex. The idea of a local “mayor” and their band of merry amateurs trying to take some sort of control of national rail services doesn’t sound overly promising!

[Mr Penguin]

Earthdweller said:

Every £2 journey now costs the taxpayer some £600 in subsidy ... Is that value for money?

Your numbers don't add up. Do you mean the whole thing costs each taxpayer £600 per year, rather than per journey?

[mikebradford]

Mr Penguin said:

Earthdweller said:

Every £2 journey now costs the taxpayer some £600 in subsidy ... Is that value for money?

Your numbers don't add up. Do you mean the whole thing costs each taxpayer £600 per year, rather than per journey?

I'm hoping your maths are right not the previous poster

[Wacky Racer]

Public transport including trains should be free funded by the taxpayer.

(In an ideal world)

[grumbledoak]

Yay for communism. It has worked so well everywhere else.

[Murph7355]

Wacky Racer said:

Public transport including trains should be free funded by the taxpayer.

(In an ideal world)

And in the real world?

[RSTurboPaul]

Earthdweller said:

Andy Burnham has brought the buses in greater Manchester back under pubic control with the bright yellow Bee bus network



The fares are capped at £2 max for an adult and £1 max for a child for any length of journey

So how much is this costing the taxpayers of Greater Manchester?

1/4 billion pounds a year!

https://democracy.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/docu...

Every £2 journey now costs the taxpayer some £600 in subsidy ... Is that value for money?

And next he wants to take control of the trains

https://order-order.com/2025/03/21/burnhams-bus-po...

I am not sure I want to know what that is

[itcaptainslow]

RSTurboPaul said:

Earthdweller said:

Andy Burnham has brought the buses in greater Manchester back under pubic control with the bright yellow Bee bus network



The fares are capped at £2 max for an adult and £1 max for a child for any length of journey

So how much is this costing the taxpayers of Greater Manchester?

1/4 billion pounds a year!

https://democracy.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/docu...

Every £2 journey now costs the taxpayer some £600 in subsidy ... Is that value for money?

And next he wants to take control of the trains

https://order-order.com/2025/03/21/burnhams-bus-po...

I am not sure I want to know what that is

Everyone who gets on immediately has to shave their bush?

[Earthdweller]

mikebradford said:

Mr Penguin said:

Earthdweller said:

Every £2 journey now costs the taxpayer some £600 in subsidy ... Is that value for money?

Your numbers don't add up. Do you mean the whole thing costs each taxpayer £600 per year, rather than per journey?

I'm hoping your maths are right not the previous poster

It was a random number on my behalf but it depends on how you look at it, only about 290k journeys are made daily .. so assuming each person makes a return trip that's only 145k people using the buses

145k out of 2.9m residents

So that's £225m in subsidies for a tiny proportion of the population

Depends whether you think that's good value

[Super Sonic]

Earthdweller said:

It was a random number on my behalf but it depends on how you look at it, only about 290k journeys are made daily .. so assuming each person makes a return trip that's only 145k people using the buses

145k out of 2.9m residents

So that's £225m in subsidies for a tiny proportion of the population

Depends whether you think that's good value

You're making assumptions beside the one you stated.
eg. you're assuming the same people use the bus every day, and everyone uses the bus fourteen times a week, ie twice daily. I wouldn't think there are many people that use the bus every single day.

[bitchstewie]

Time was people would show their workings.

Looks like it's fine to just be a random number generator now.

[Mrr T]

Earthdweller said:

Andy Burnham has brought the buses in greater Manchester back under pubic control with the bright yellow Bee bus network



The fares are capped at £2 max for an adult and £1 max for a child for any length of journey

So how much is this costing the taxpayers of Greater Manchester?

1/4 billion pounds a year!

https://democracy.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/docu...

Every £2 journey now costs the taxpayer some £600 in subsidy ... Is that value for money?

And next he wants to take control of the trains

https://order-order.com/2025/03/21/burnhams-bus-po...

G Fawkes is not a news source he a propaganda outlet for the tories, maybe now reform.

Not sure where the £600 comes from but a quick search showed buses in the Greater Manchester area had a ridership of 145.8 million in 2023. So that works out about £1.55 per ride.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Manch...

[Dog Star]

I think it’s brilliant.

Public transport really should be run for benefit, not profit. This is how it should be done.

Burnham dropped a bk with his attempt at a CAZ but happily that’s in the bin. Otherwise he’s doing a great job for Manchester IMO, and this Bee thing is great.

[bitchstewie]

Dog Star said:

I think it’s brilliant.

Public transport really should be run for benefit, not profit. This is how it should be done.

Burnham dropped a bk with his attempt at a CAZ but happily that’s in the bin. Otherwise he’s doing a great job for Manchester IMO, and this Bee thing is great.

I see things like easily accessible low cost public transport as an enabler.

For some people it may be the difference between being able to take a job or not take a job.

It seems a weird thing to whine about.

[Dingu]

Earthdweller said:

It was a random number on my behalf but it depends on how you look at it, only about 290k journeys are made daily .. so assuming each person makes a return trip that's only 145k people using the buses

145k out of 2.9m residents

So that's £225m in subsidies for a tiny proportion of the population

Depends whether you think that's good value

Better value than wasting time reading made up bks.

[Earthdweller]

Super Sonic said:

Earthdweller said:

It was a random number on my behalf but it depends on how you look at it, only about 290k journeys are made daily .. so assuming each person makes a return trip that's only 145k people using the buses

145k out of 2.9m residents

So that's £225m in subsidies for a tiny proportion of the population

Depends whether you think that's good value

You're making assumptions beside the one you stated.
eg. you're assuming the same people use the bus every day, and everyone uses the bus fourteen times a week, ie twice daily. I wouldn't think there are many people that use the bus every single day.

It is generally going to be the same people using the bus whether daily, weekly, monthly or whatever to commute, shop or whatever

Likewise it will be the same people using a car or train

Most people will want to come back from where they went and will use the same method, that's not an unreasonable assumption

Whichever way you look at it, it's only a very small number of the total residents that will be using the buses and a lot of them will be travelling free or not paying the full fare

[bigpriest]

It's not bright yellow, it's a muted yellow. Sometimes you have to look at the future economic benefits of allowing people to travel more easily around a conurbation. Especially when Central Government keep ignoring your bigger-scale transport infrastructure plans.

[Dingu]

Earthdweller said:

Super Sonic said:

Earthdweller said:

It was a random number on my behalf but it depends on how you look at it, only about 290k journeys are made daily .. so assuming each person makes a return trip that's only 145k people using the buses

145k out of 2.9m residents

So that's £225m in subsidies for a tiny proportion of the population

Depends whether you think that's good value

You're making assumptions beside the one you stated.
eg. you're assuming the same people use the bus every day, and everyone uses the bus fourteen times a week, ie twice daily. I wouldn't think there are many people that use the bus every single day.

It is generally going to be the same people using the bus whether daily, weekly, monthly or whatever to commute, shop or whatever

Likewise it will be the same people using a car or train

Most people will want to come back from where they went and will use the same method, that's not an unreasonable assumption

Whichever way you look at it, it's only a very small number of the total residents that will be using the buses and a lot of them will be travelling free or not paying the full fare

Get the bus then if you are that jealous. Blimey.

[bitchstewie]

Earthdweller said:

It is generally going to be the same people using the bus whether daily, weekly, monthly or whatever to commute, shop or whatever

Likewise it will be the same people using a car or train

Most people will want to come back from where they went and will use the same method, that's not an unreasonable assumption

Whichever way you look at it, it's only a very small number of the total residents that will be using the buses and a lot of them will be travelling free or not paying the full fare

Do you think bus passes for pensioners should be withdrawn?