Public transport in UK cities most expensive in Europe

The UK’s largest cities, Birmingham, London and Greater Manchester, are ranked amongst the worst in Europe for public transport affordability.

According to the Campaign for Better Transport and Clean Cities Campaign, the three cities are bottom of a ranking table on the affordability of public transport with residents being asked to fork out up to 10 per cent of their household budget on monthly travel costs.

The new report ranked 36 European cities by how much progress they are making towards achieving net zero mobility by 2030, based on measures ranging from more space for walking and cycling to road safety and policies to phase out polluting cars.

In contrast to Birmingham, London and Greater Manchester, in Oslo, which came top overall in the report, passengers spend just two per cent of their household budget on public transport fares.

The Campaign for Better Transport is calling the report ‘a wake-up call for the UK government’. The transport charity is calling for more action from central government to make buses and trains affordable. Helping more people to use public transport is essential to tackling air pollution and traffic congestion in cities, as well as meeting our net zero targets.

To improve affordability and help ensure the greenest transport option is always the cheapest, Campaign for Better Transport is calling for the UK government to: introduce Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) ticketing with daily price capping within towns and cities as soon as possible; improve the flexible rail season ticket offer to ensure it provides comparable savings to a full-time one; and improve incentives for bus operators to implement contactless payment options and cross-operator ticketing.

Paul Tuohy, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, said: “This report makes clear the link between the cost of public transport and efforts to decarbonise transport and must therefore act as a wake-up call for the UK government. We currently have a situation where the greenest transport option isn't always the cheapest and it should be. We need more affordable public transport to help us achieve the government’s vision where public transport, cycling and walking are the first choice when it comes to transport.”

When ranking overall progress towards achieving zero emission mobility, London came 12th in the overall rankings with a score of 55.8 per cent. Birmingham was 17th with a score of 52.8 per cent and Greater Manchester was 30th with a score of 42.1 per cent.