# Cap bus fares at £2 > “I’ve done it before and I will do it again now: a £2 cap on bus fares for millions across the country.” > > — Andy Burnham, Prime Minister, Labour Party; Government announcement, 22 July 2026 - **Status:** In plan - **Status ladder:** Promised → In plan → Legislated → Funded → Delivering → Delivered - **Policy area:** [Transport & economy](https://ledgergov.uk/promises/area/transport-and-economy) - **Speaker:** [Andy Burnham](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/andy-burnham), Prime Minister - **Party:** [Labour Party](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/labour) - **Made on:** 22 July 2026 - **Where:** Government announcement - **Deadline:** 1 January 2027 - **Cost a year:** Costs £0.36bn to £0.44bn a year (central £0.4bn) - **Who it affects:** Bus passengers on participating services in England outside London - **When:** 1 January to 31 December 2027 - **Paid for by:** An extra £454m (including funding for devolved governments) from a reprioritisation of DESNZ’s budget, switching funding that had been set aside for international climate finance projects into loans - **Quote source:** https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cheaper-travel-for-millions-with-a-third-off-fares (checked word for word on 6 October 2026; Open Government Licence v3.0) - **Last updated:** 6 October 2026 - **Card:** https://ledgergov.uk/promise/uk-bus-cap-2-2026 ## Where it stands Funding was named when it was announced, but it is not yet in an Estimates line. A promise counts as funded only once a Budget, Spending Review or Estimates allocates the money, so this card stays at In plan. Earlier caps for context: a £2 cap ran in England outside London from January 2023 under the previous government; it rose to £3 in January 2025, and Spending Review 2025 (11 June 2025) extended the £3 cap to March 2027 (sources below). ## Timeline - 22 July 2026, Promised: PM announces a £2 cap on single bus fares from 1 January to 31 December 2027, backed by £400m of extra funding - 22 July 2026, In plan: Written statement to Parliament confirms the scheme and names the funding: £400m extra, from reprioritising DESNZ's budget ([evidence](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/2-bus-fares-from-january-2027)) - 1 January 2027, Deadline (to come): Due to start ## About the cost Year shown: 2027, the only year of the cap (1 January to 31 December 2027); central figure only. The government says the cap is backed by £400m of extra funding. Its press release puts the total at £454m including funding for the devolved governments, paid through the Barnett formula. Neither source says whether the £400m is the full cost of the cap or the extra over the £3 cap it replaces, and no independent costing has been published. Low–high is an editorial ±10% because the source gives a central figure only. Costing sources: - [Written statement to Parliament: £2 bus fares from January 2027](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/2-bus-fares-from-january-2027) - [Press release: Cheaper travel for millions with a third off fares](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cheaper-travel-for-millions-with-a-third-off-fares) ## Sources - [No 10, HM Treasury and DfT press release: Cheaper travel for millions with a third off fares, 22 Jul 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cheaper-travel-for-millions-with-a-third-off-fares) - [Written statement to Parliament: £2 bus fares from January 2027, 22 Jul 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/2-bus-fares-from-january-2027) - [DfT guidance: £3 national bus fare cap (updated 22 Jul 2026 with the £2 cap for 2027)](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/3-national-bus-fare-cap) - [Spending Review 2025 (HM Treasury)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2025-document/spending-review-2025-html) - [DfT news, 1 Jan 2025: £3 national bus fare cap starts](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bus-passengers-to-save-hundreds-as-government-prevents-cliff-edge-fare-hike) - [DfT news, 1 Jan 2023: £2 bus tickets for thousands of routes](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-year-cheer-2-bus-tickets-for-thousands-of-routes) ## Checks - Checked by AI Journalist (automated) on 6 October 2026; human editor review to come. --- Public Ledger's own writing (headlines, status notes, cost notes, summaries) is licensed under [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse it, crediting Public Ledger with a link to the card. Official figures are under the [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) unless their source says otherwise; quotes from Parliament under the [Open Parliament Licence v3.0](https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright-parliament/open-parliament-licence/); other quotes are short extracts whose rights stay with the speaker. How the numbers and statuses are made: https://ledgergov.uk/method.