No Metro fare fee cuts after PM bus cap pledge
North East Combined AuthorityNo immediate cuts to Tyne and Wear Metro fares are planned following the prime minister's pledge to cap bus tickets to £2 from January.
Metro fares have been capped at £2.50 since April after the North East Mayor Kim McGuinness capped the region's bus fares to the same price in 2025.
The current Metro cap is linked to the region's bus cap as part of McGuinness's 'Mayor's Fares'. However, the mayor's spokesperson said Andy Burnham's pledge would not affect Metro fares in the near future.
They said: "If it is possible to freeze that prize beyond 2027 or even go further then we will try to do that - although this is not something which the government would pay for."
Currently the cost of a single journey on a bus in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham has been capped at 50p cheaper than the national rate of £3.
The national cap, which was first introduced in January 2023, was increased to £3 from £2 at the start of 2025.
There are separate bus caps in other parts of the country such as London, Manchester and Liverpool.
Burnham has now pledged to return the national cap back to £2 from January.
The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (NEMSA) said bus journeys across the region had risen by 8% from the 2023-2024 financial year to the 2024-2025 financial year.
But a May 2025 government report looking into the effect of the original £2 cap suggested it had little or no impact on bus usage levels in the North East.
Meanwhile the country, outside of London, saw an average 5% increase in bus usage levels as a result of the cap – though there were large regional variations.
