Andy Burnham has announced plans to cap single bus tickets at £2 outside of London.

The changes will come into effect from 1 January 2027 and remain until the end of the year.

Fares are already capped at £3 until the end of March 2027. The announcement lowers the cap to £2 from January and extends it until the end of the year.

The plan is designed to help ease the cost of living and help millions of people across the country access affordable bus travel more easily.

The last time a £2 cap was introduced, an estimated 30 million more journeys were taken by bus in 10 months.

The scheme is backed by £400 million of extra funding, which comes from a reprioritisation of DESNZ’s budget, switching funding that had been set aside for international climate finance projects into loans.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: "Good, affordable transport links are an essential. No one should be priced out of those and left behind.

"But for too long people have said that cheaper transport isn’t an option. I don’t accept that. I’ve done it before and I will do it again now: a £2 cap on bus fares for millions across the country.

"Lower fares will help people get to where they need to – giving them breathing space to help with the cost of living.

"As I said on my first day in office – I will build a country for everyone, everywhere. That means more connected communities, better access to opportunities, and a lighter load on people’s lives."

Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey MP said: "We are capping bus fares at £2 for everyone throughout 2027, slashing fares by a third for millions of people, to help give them the breathing space they need.

"This action to ease the cost of living is funded by savings made elsewhere, so there’s no burden to British taxpayers, just pounds going back into their pockets."