Risk of fare rises if smog tax hits buses
REGION’S BIGGEST OPERATOR SAYS IT WOULD ‘PASS ON’ NEW CHARGES
THE boss of Greater Manchester’s biggest bus firm has warned passengers’ fares could rise if they are forced to pay a pollution tax.
The warning comes as passengers are already bracing themselves for fare hikes in January - with Stagecoach and First increasing prices by an average 6 per cent.
Charging Zones, areas where drivers must pay to enter, are being considered in Greater Manchester to combat a growing pollution crisis, with the toxic gas nitrogen dioxide, produced mainly by diesel vehicles, at dangerous and illegal levels across the borough.
It’s understood that, under proposals being privately worked up by leaders, a preferred option is to tax diesel vans, lorries, taxis and buses. And at a meeting held by travel watchdog Transport Focus, Elisabeth Tasker, managing director for Stagecoach, publicly addressed the issue for the first time.
Warning that the firm would have to ‘pay the penalty and pass on the charge to passenger fares,’ she added: “This needs to be carefully thought out.”
Accepting air quality was an important issue, she added: “But we have to balance air quality and the need to get passengers to where they want to go.”
The M.E.N. has also asked Manchester’s First Bus if they would hand down the charges to their customers but they declined to comment. However, if all operators choose to pass on the burden, it will hit passengers who make in excess of 225m bus journeys a year in Greater Manchester - accounting for more than 70 per cent of those who take public transport. Ms Tasker’s comments came shortly after new figures revealed shareholders of the region’s three top bus firms have raked in an average of £18.4m a year over the last decade - with Stagecoach’s yearly average coming in at £10.4m.
Meanwhile, Stagecoach bosses claim buses are behind just 6 per cent of diesel emissions, while cars are responsible for 41pc.
The firm has applied for £21.5m government funding to roll out 105 electric buses across Greater Manchester by 2020.
However, more than half their current 657 vehicles – and those of other firms – are still diesel.