A group of 88 councillors and prospective candidates in the May local elections have pledged “to use our platforms to call for the extension of free public transport, which addresses social injustice, and can help tackle climate change and air pollution.”

The group recognises that “funding models would have to change, in line with a public service approach”, and commits to “exploring how this can be done, including learning from international models.”

The pledge offers a vision of expanding public services to address the cost-of-living crisis – and strikes a sharp contrast to threats of further cuts. It presents a response to myth-making about ‘waste’ in local government, and supports the protection of the workforce through redeployment to meet the needs of a fare-free model.

The statement has been signed by councillors representing the Green party, Labour Party, Your Party, Nottingham Socialist Alliance, Green Socialist Alliance, Independent Socialists and independents. It remains open to councillors and prospective candidates, from all parties or none, to sign in the run-up to the elections in May.

Those who have signed the pledge so far will be standing for election in eight local authorities in Yorkshire, eleven London boroughs and councils in the north-west, north Wales, Cambridgeshire, Kent and Suffolk. 

The initiative is supported by the campaign groups Fare Free London, Fare Free Yorkshire, Better Buses for West Yorkshire, West Yorkshire Needs a Tram, Tipping Point UK and the Greener Jobs Alliance.

Good public transport, free at the point of use, opens up localities to all who live in them. Campaigners and transport researchers say that abolishing fares is the best way to make services accessible to the lowest-income households. It is an essential part of integrated transport policies that cut greenhouse gas emissions and tackle air pollution.

Some initial signatories have explained why they support the pledge. Caroline Russell, Green councillor in Islington and member of the London Assembly, said: “For many Londoners, just getting to and from work costs so much it can stop them taking a job, or force them to cut back on essentials like food or heating. Meanwhile people living in parts of outer London say they feel forced to own a car to access work, school or medical care. 

“In a huge city like London, access to reliable, affordable and even free public transport is essential to reduce congestion, clean up the air and support Londoners to build regular walking into daily trips on public transport.”

Alan Gibbons, Your Party group leader on Liverpool City Council, said: “There has to be an alternative to car dependency in our increasingly polluted and congested towns and cities, and to support more isolated rural areas.

“The offer of free bus, tram and train journeys, and quality park and ride schemes, can work as part of a comprehensive public transport system to make our communities cleaner, happier and more accessible places. It just needs our political leaders to show courage and imagination.” 

​Ed Carlisle, Green member of Leeds City Council, said: “Free public transport is about empowerment. It’s about finding our way to a fairer and more productive future – and addressing the great wide-ranging problems we’re all facing together, ranging from the cost of living crisis and social inequality, to the climate crisis and pollution.

“We feel this all the more acutely in Leeds: we’re the largest European city without a mass transit system. We cannot settle this at the local level alone: the government needs to think big, instead of deferring everything to the private corporate world.”

Fliss Premru, independent socialist councillor in Hackney,in London, said: “If public investment only goes into expanding the road system, it will widen social inequalities and exacerbate our greenhouse gas emission and air pollution problems. Let’s push the other way. Free public transport is the sort of big, bold measure that can address the cost-of-living crisis  and help tackle climate change at the same time.”

Zoë Garbett, Green candidate for Mayor of Hackney, said: “Everyone should be able to get around their communities without worrying about the cost. Free, reliable public transport is good for people, good for our economy, and essential for tackling the climate crisis. I want to see free bus travel for everyone under 22 which would give young people freedom to move, access to work, and the ability to stay connected to friends and fun, all while easing the pressures on our roads. This is how we help create a fairer and cleaner London.”

Calls to widen the provision of free public transport have been growing over the last few years. Buses are already free for pensioners across the UK, and for under-22s in Scotland and Wales; London residents who are 60+ travel free on the tube and trains too.

The House of Commons Transport Committee called in August last year for free bus travel to be extended to under-22s in England.

Glasgow City Council, acting on a recommendation of the Scottish Just Transition Commission, in 2024 published a report on how free public transport could be implemented in the city, and will run a pilot scheme this year under which 1,000 residents between the ages of 22 and 59 will travel free for six weeks.

Outside the UK, free transport schemes are widespread. Public transport is free for residents in European cities including the capitals of Estonia and Serbia; Montpellier and Dunkerque in France; Kriviy Rih in Ukraine; and the whole of Luxemburg. No less than 130 municipalities in Brazil have free public transport, as do Kansas City, Albuquerque and other cities in the US.

For more background information see farefreelondon.org. Councillors and prospective candidates are invited to sign the pledge via this link.

Image: Luxembourg, tram  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luxembourg,_tram_2018-07_all%C3%A9e_Scheffer.jpg. Author: GilPe, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.