A campaign for fairer fares and a better bus service in Leeds has gone to Parliament.
Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland yesterday tabled an early day motion (EDM) backing the Fair Fares For All's campaign for lower fares, more reliable services and a greater regulation of services.
Mulholland's motion reads:
"That this House supports the Leeds-based campaign, Fair Fares For All, which has been set up in response to recent ticket price increases, poor reliability and service on some routes by First buses; notes that fares on local bus services have increased by almost 40 per cent; in the last two years, with the cost of a single one-way fare for more than four stops having risen from 1.70 to 1.90; is concerned that these price changes have been poorly advertised; and calls for Metro, West Yorkshire's passenger transport authority, to regulate services through a bus quality contracts scheme to standardise fares, routes and frequency of service."
An EDM, in the Westminster system, is a motion expressed as a single sentence tabled by Members of Parliament for a future debate. So far three other MPs have signed Mulholland's EDM.
Mulholland is one of six Leeds MPs to have signed the Fair Fares For All petition. He said:
"People from all sections of our communities rely on public transport. We must make every effort to ensure that the bus to work, or to school is as affordable as possible in order to encourage as many people as we can back on to public transport."
Leeds bus campaigner Stuart Long said:
"It's terrific that our campaign is being heard in Westminster - it raises our profile and gives us some powerful backing."
The EDM comes just days after Fair Fares For All announced on Guardian Leeds that they were joining up with the Leeds Student Bus campaign for a day of action in Leeds on Friday, December 3.
What do you think? Have your say in the comments section below.
