Jonathan Freedland recounts how when he was 14 years old, Greater London council, led by Ken Livingstone, reduced child fares on the buses to 5p in a scheme called Fares Fair (Scoff at cheaper bus fares and No 10 North if you like, but Andy Burnham knows what he’s doing, 24 July). In 1950s Liverpool, the corporation had a scheme for schoolchildren in the holidays whereby they could buy a “penny return” to anywhere on the tram network. You could, for example, travel from the Pier Head by the Mersey on the number 10 tram to Prescot, almost 10 miles inland, and back again. Or you could use your ticket to transfer from your first destination to a different one rather than using it as a return. Sadly the last tram ran in 1957.
I remember on one occasion being on the tram when a rather tall boy asked for a penny return. The conductor obviously suspected that he was over the age limit. He gave him his ticket, but asked him: “Why didn’t you bring the missis?” And by the way, this was of course the old penny, of which there were 240 to the pound sterling.
Joe Cocker
Leominster, Herefordshire
• Jonathan Freedland is admiring of leaders who make the big statement that defines their term. Those he mentions are a mixed bag. Nye Bevan was right with the NHS, as was Harold Wilson with the Open University, but was Margaret Thatcher with right to buy? All that happened was house price inflation, unfair property windfalls and many of those properties ending up in the avaricious hands of private landlords.
As for Gordon Brown’s Bank of England independence, all that happened was that monetary policy and fiscal policy got separated into ghettoes with no effect on boom or bust. In the 10 years from 1997 to 2007, high Bank rates had no effect in damping down the party, while in the decade from 2010 to Covid, the Bank rate at 0.5% or lower had absolutely no effect in getting the economy anywhere near to normal levels of growth. Might it be a better idea if politicians had a longer think about their headline policies? Headlines one day, fish and chip wrappers the next.
David Redshaw
Saltdean, East Sussex
• Andy Burnham’s bus fare cap rang a bell for me: the South Yorkshire equivalent was reduced fares to 10p for adults and 2p for children in the early 1980s. Little things have long shadows: in Sheffield, almost half a century later, it is still mentioned every time we bemoan the parlous, life-limiting, economy-harming state of the privatised buses. Small changes to conserve small change could amount to a radical shift of gear. Hold tight, please.
Robin Hughes
Sheffield
• In the late 1940s and 50s, a return bus ticket from Thorne to Doncaster in South Yorkshire, 10 miles each way, was one shilling and 10 old pence. My dad always said we had the cheapest fares in England. This made us feel travel was affordable and encouraged us to go places. We also went to Doncaster, our nearest big town, more frequently, for shopping trips. Cheap public transport spreads the feelgood factor. Expensive transport equals stress and distrust of the provider. So well done, Andy Burnham.
Jennifer Kennerley
Norwich
• Dear Andy Burnham, please provide Shropshire with a comprehensive bus service so that residents can benefit from the £2 cap on bus fares.
Roz Conway
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
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