Food or Education?

A 40% increase in the concessionary fare in 2007 may have led to some families thinking twice about their children catching the bus to school, according to research commissioned by the Transport Resource Unit in early 2008. This research will now be followed up at a national level.

Pteg, the Passenger Transport Executive Group which represents the metropolitan Passenger Transport Executives in Great Britain, are currently scoping out a research project on the impact of fare increases on low income families, using the evidence from TRU as a starting point.

The small scale piece of research, titled Food or Education, was commissioned to explore the issues relating to the rise in the Greater Manchester concessionary bus fare from 50p to 70p in April 2007. The aim of the research was to understand the impact of this price rise and identify key issues for parents/carers and children in accessing transport.

The research found that the increase had negative implications for some families with bus journeys being viewed as less affordable, resulting in a shift to car use for some journeys and a reduction in other journeys. Disposable income was also affected. This echoes the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority's own research which estimated that the rise would lead to a reduction in concessionary journeys of approximately 2 million, or 6%. 

The concessionary fare has not been increased since 2007 but it was recently announced by GMITA that a 10p rise will apply from April 2009.

The full report can be downloaded below.