Welsh Labour pledges £2 bus fare cap if re-elected
Welsh Labour has pledged to introduce a £2 cap on all single bus fares across Wales if it forms the next Welsh Government after the 2026 Senedd election.
The proposal, announced by Transport Cabinet Secretary Ken Skates MS during a visit to Wrexham bus interchange, would take effect from April 2027 and apply to passengers aged 22 to 59.
Under 21s currently benefit from a £1 single fare cap, while over 60s have free bus travel through the existing Welsh Labour Government schemes.
The plan also includes the creation of more than 100 new bus routes, with services to be rolled out between 2027 and 2030. The routes would be developed with public input and prioritise links to jobs, hospitals and train stations.
Ken Skates MS said: “Through our landmark Bus Services Bill, we are ending the era of fragmented services forced on Wales by the Tories de-regulating the bus network. From now on in Wales, buses will be run for people, not just for profit.
“These changes are about making our transport system fairer. Cheaper journeys, more routes to the places where passengers want them to go, a bus service that serves those that use it. We want to unlock opportunity by connecting people to their jobs, their hospitals, their town centres, their libraries. And Welsh Labour will take action to do that.”
Unite the Union has welcomed the commitment, calling it “a step in the right direction” towards ensuring public transport works for communities rather than private profit.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Public transport should be just that. Owned by the public and run for the public. And this should extend to fares that allow workers, students and families to go about their business for a fair fare. Today’s announcement by Welsh Labour is a step in the right direction.”
Lead officer for public transport in Wales, Alan McCarthy, added: “It will surprise nobody that deregulation has failed to deliver for communities in Wales. Unite has long campaigned for bus services to return to public control. The bill is a significant step forward in ensuring that services work in favour of passengers and communities rather than shareholders and profiteers.”
However, the Welsh Conservatives criticised the announcement, arguing that Labour should act now rather than wait for re-election.
Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Transport and Infrastructure, Sam Rowlands MS, said:
“Labour’s indication that they will address this issue is long overdue, though given they are in power now, they should be getting on with it as opposed to making this a post-election promise.
“It was the UK Conservative Government that first introduced the £2 bus fare cap, back in 2023. Labour’s Rachel Reeves raised the cap by 50% to £3. The Welsh Labour Government, propped up routinely by Plaid Cymru, cannot be trusted to expand the bus network to more rural areas outside of their electoral heartlands, as they have repeatedly failed to for 27 years – only the Welsh Conservatives can.”
The Welsh Labour manifesto pledge builds on the Bus Services (Wales) Bill passed in December, which brings local bus networks under public control for the first time in decades.
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