COMMENT
Shortly before this issue went to press, prime minister Rishi Sunak cancelled the HS2 rail project north of Birmingham, claiming that the government will reinvest “every penny” of the £36bn saved in different transport schemes across the north, midlands and the outside London.
He fired off a long list of new projects which would be funded instead, including many road and rail initiatives (over 100 road schemes, and east-towest rail development amongst them) claiming that “this is what the north really needs”. The only clear mention of bus in this barrage of statements was that the government would “Keep the £2 bus fare across the whole country”. At the time of writing, there’s little more to go on than this line in the speech – is it now compulsory? How long is the extension? Will it still transition to £2.50 at some stage? – but hopefully more details will be confirmed shortly.
There will no doubt be heavy criticism for the cancellation of HS2, but I think it’s worth waiting to see what these new projects will entail before coming to conclusions. The idea that hundreds of projects across a wide area will be more beneficial than a single rail line, which might not arrive for decades, is som…
