No Metro fare fee cuts after PM bus cap pledge

5 hours ago

Jason Arunn MurugesuNorth East and Cumbria

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness's office subsidises the £2.50 Metro cap

North East Combined Authority North East Mayor Kim McGuinness standing on a train platform with her arms crossed. She has light brown hair and is smiling, and wearing a camel-coloured coat. A yellow and grey Metro train has pulled up at the platform. Its doors are open. It is sunny and the right-hand side of the image is cast into shadow. — North East Mayor Kim McGuinness's office subsidises the £2.50 Metro cap

No immediate cuts to Tyne and Wear Metro fares are planned following the prime minister's pledge to cap bus tickets to £2 from January.

Metro fares have been capped at £2.50 since April after the North East Mayor Kim McGuinness capped the region's bus fares to the same price in 2025.

The current Metro cap is linked to the region's bus cap as part of McGuinness's 'Mayor's Fares'. However, the mayor's spokesperson said Andy Burnham's pledge would not affect Metro fares in the near future.

They said: "If it is possible to freeze that prize beyond 2027 or even go further then we will try to do that - although this is not something which the government would pay for."

Currently the cost of a single journey on a bus in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham has been capped at 50p cheaper than the national rate of £3.

The national cap, which was first introduced in January 2023, was increased to £3 from £2 at the start of 2025.

There are separate bus caps in other parts of the country such as London, Manchester and Liverpool.

Burnham has now pledged to return the national cap back to £2 from January.

The current cap is 50p cheaper than the national bus cap

A Blue Stagecoach bus driving along a road on sunny day. There are clouds in the blue sky and trees overhang on to the pavement on each side of the road. There is a car behind the bus. — The current cap is 50p cheaper than the national bus cap

The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (NEMSA) said bus journeys across the region had risen by 8% from the 2023-2024 financial year to the 2024-2025 financial year.

But a May 2025 government report looking into the effect of the original £2 cap suggested it had little or no impact on bus usage levels in the North East.

Meanwhile the country, outside of London, saw an average 5% increase in bus usage levels as a result of the cap – though there were large regional variations.