Black Country free travel not feasible
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• Birmingham Trades Council has been told that free bus travel in Birmingham and the Black Country is not feasible—it would cost an estimated 120m. The Council had asked Birmingham city council for an examination of the costs.
Aid Sir Francis Griffin, Conservative leader of the council, and chairman of the West Midlands PTA said that free travel on PTA buses alone would cost £20m if the scheme was extended to Midland Red buses and railways it would cost even more. An entirely free system would have to allow for maximum usage and the potential expansion would be "absolutely colossal".
He added: "The congestion on the roads and the tremendous capital investment involved in buses and crews really puts the whole idea outside the range of economic commonsense.
"Unions are demanding ever-higher wages and salaries and their demands are really a form of suicide for those at present employed in the bus industry.
"In order to combat this vital economic fact, they then say the whole service should be free! It is worth pointing out that there is nothing free in this world.
"Those who advocate so-called free travel, really mean they want to travel without paying their fare, leaving it to their fellows as ratepayers or taxpayers to foot the bill."