The people of Wolverhampton express their thoughts on the proposals to increase bus fares.

Express & Star

Transcript

00:00We're down here outside of Wolverhampton bus station where we're asking people about the new

00:05raised cap that's going to come into play. Currently the bus fare for a single journey

00:10is £2 but it's going to go up to £2.90 which the National Express West Midlands and the WMCA say is

00:17better than the £3 cap nationally. So yeah we're down here asking people their opinions to see if

00:22that extra £0.90 will really make a difference to the pockets. To be honest well they've upped

00:27them a lot since Covid. I mean they've done it once now they're doing it again. To be honest

00:35they don't really affect me because I get my bus pass through my college but I know my mate's mum

00:41she has to come into work every day. Sometimes she's walking home because she just hasn't got

00:46the money and I just think you know it's ridiculous. She's coming from town all the way to

00:51having to walk it you know. I think really I think for younger generations it doesn't matter but I

00:58think when you start to move it to the older generations the fact of walking or biking for

01:02them isn't really a doable thing and it just it really puts people in a hard position especially

01:10with work and earning money or even just going and seeing relatives and socialising. Absolutely

01:15yeah let me see what you think about this comment here because one of the arguments that they put

01:18that the groups who put it into place put against it was that it's £0.10 lower than the £3 new cap

01:25which is like you know so it's going into £0.90 but the actual maximum cap is only £3.

01:29Like what do you think about the the £0.10 do you reckon that £0.90 is going to make a damage

01:32to like some of the people's pockets? Well like I say you know some people you know they're on

01:37universal credit they got money and they need you know people can't get to Jobcentre appointments

01:43and then they're having universal credit damaged because of it just because you know especially

01:49you look at people with disabilities and whatnot you know they literally rely on bus services in

01:55order to get around and get to their jobs and live their lives and I think you know yeah to

02:00a big company it's you know you're getting 90 pence it's pushing their margins up a bit but

02:06at the end of the day you're affecting how many people just to raise your one percent a bit higher.

02:12Well I have to be honest it's not that easy you know from £2 to £3 or £0.90 it is around here

02:19yeah I really I don't think it's bad at all at least it's keeping the services going.

02:26Do you think there's going to be a problem when it comes to people who utilise the buses and

02:30they're like on stuff like universal credit because like that £0.90 might make quite a bit

02:34of a difference to somebody with who's tight in the pocket you know? It's right what you say

02:39but I really don't know about that you know to be honest. That's okay so what do you think about

02:45the fact that they're saying you know it's £0.90 around here but it's going to be £3

02:50nationally they said that's better than just making it £3 do you reckon that'd be better

02:53off just making it £3? You might as well make it £3, £10 you know it's all near or there is it

02:58really yeah so just make it around you know because people are going to start scratching

03:04around for the the odd pen slide so £3 it's not a packet of faggots is it it's not even a pint

03:12actually. Not these days, not these days. I think it's disgrace to be honest I mean there's a lot

03:18of people who haven't got a lot of money and an extra 90p or wherever it is you add that to a

03:23whole family and it could be another two three pound. Absolutely yeah especially for people who

03:28rely on you know the people who are on the bottom line and they rely on the bus service for transport

03:32to work and whatnot. Yeah I know that yeah I mean at the end of the day the price should be going

03:36down not going up absolutely I mean it's recently only just gone up by 40p then it went up again by

03:42another 40p and now it's going up again by 90p absolutely that's like three two three pound

03:49you get a family ticket another four five pound which I think is wrong. One of the things that

03:55one of the things that they argued for the 90p because I think nationally it's £3 so like I

04:00think there's a wider idea it's three pound altogether they said it's 90p which is 10p

04:05better than the three pound maximum. Do you reckon that's a good do you reckon that's a good argument

04:09because I mean like it might as well be three pound if they're going to make it 90p.

04:12Well yeah I mean at the end of the day yeah 10p is 10p isn't it to a lot of people

04:18and at the end of the day a lot of people who haven't got money and they've got like hospital

04:24appointments different places they've got to get to and like I said like with the family

04:30I think it's a disgrace I mean it should be as it was before like £2.40 if it was

04:36I mean everything's going up not just the bus fare and everything but at the end of the day

04:42bus fare like with the family is a lot of money and I think it's a disgrace.

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