On Monday 28th October, Richard Parker, the Labour Mayor of the West Midlands, welcomed Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, to Birmingham for a pre-Budget 2024 speech. To the surprise of many, the Prime Minister announced an increase to the bus fare cap of 50%, from £2 to £3.
In addition to the fare increase, Transport for West Midlands, which is controlled by the Mayor, announced that the majority of bus route changes and cancellations will affect Solihull Borough.
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP said:
There have been a series of recent announcements relating to bus travel, including bus fare cap rises and the scraping of certain routes in Solihull, which have proved to be unwelcome news for many of my constituents in Solihull West & Shirley.
Please complete my survey, to let me know how the bus fare cap affects you, and I will compile a report and present it to the Mayor of the West Midlands.