First Bus – Flexi tickets and other fare information

From this Sunday 6 March, First Bus will be introducing a new range of Flexi tickets alongside fare changes on our Greater Manchester services.

The new Flexi tickets are designed to encourage more people to use the bus as travel behaviour adapts following the pandemic. They claim to have responded to a change in work & leisure patterns and new habits in commuting & hybrid working with the creation of a 3-day ticket valid over five days and a 5-day ticket which can be used for trips over eight days.

The fare changes on the services are the first to be made since January 2020 and include the reduction or freezing of prices for single tickets. Single fares for the longest journeys will reduce to £4 for an adult and £2 for children, a decrease of 11 per cent, with the cost of all other Singles held at the current price.

Price increases for Week tickets will rise in line with the rate of inflation while Day tickets will rise by 50p for adults and 25p for children with the family ticket unchanged at £10. All price changes will also apply to mTickets bought on the First Bus App.

Where prices are increasing, they say they have worked to limit these changes for customers as much as possible so we can balance the challenge of maintaining a sustainable network as we build back passengers to pre-pandemic levels.

Posters explaining the fares and new Flexi tickets will begin appearing on buses from this week.

Details can also be found by visiting the First Manchester website https://www.firstbus.co.uk/greater-manchester/news-and-service-updates/planned-changes/fare-changes-6th-march

Oldham Liberal Democrats make practical budget suggestions for Oldham Council budget based on what citizens want and will make Oldham safer, greener, and cleaner

Shaw Councillor Chris Gloster, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance and Low Carbon, is looking forward to presenting the Liberal Democrat budget amendment to Oldham’s annual Budget Council 2 March 2022.

Many of the proposals have been shaped by feedback from the Borough’s residents and Councillor Gloster’s confident that the Opposition Group has produced a budget amendment that will have no adverse impact on council finances, whilst delivering further improvements in the Council services that residents most value.

Councillor Gloster, who is Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition Group on Oldham Council will present this amendment on Wednesday 2March 2022 in response to the Labour Administration’s proposal that recommends a 3.99% increase in Council Tax, coupled with the Labour Metro Mayor Andy Burnham’s proposal to increase the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s ask by 7.1%.

Councillor Gloster said, “The Oldham Liberal Democrats want to reduce civic centre bureaucracy to squeeze out more money to spend on the front-line services most valued by the public.  As we begin to emerge from the nightmare of COVID-19, we wish to look at building back better in our Borough by focussing on making Oldham safer, greener and cleaner.”  

Liberal Democrat Councillors are proposing to change part of Labour’s capital investment programme and finding more money from cutting bureaucracy and waste elsewhere in the Council’s budget to allow them to: 

  • Invest £3,750,000 between 2022 and 2027 to fund the fight to get to net zero.
  • Increase the investment in tackling environmental crime by £200,000 over the next two years to combat the scourge of fly tipping, dog fouling and litter.
  • Support a 20s Plenty scheme to reduce road speeds on roads across the borough, making them  safer and reducing air pollution, at a cost of £235,000 over the next two years.
  • Reverse Labour’s cuts to Early Help funding, by providing an extra £100,000 to pay for more help for the borough’s most vulnerable people.  This saves money elsewhere by reducing the demands made upon our overstretched health, mental and social work teams.
  • Introduce a fund for free bulky waste collection to prevent fly tipping.
  • Invest £100,000 more into Youth Services, with an emphasis on supporting outreach youth work to support vulnerable young people and helps prevent anti-social behaviour and crime in our communities.
  • Invest an additional £150,000 on crime prevention and safety measures to make our borough’s residents feel safer.
  • Reinstate the £15,000 grant to  both Shaw and Crompton and Saddleworth Parish Councils to recognise the work of these unpaid elected volunteers and to enhance local democracy.

Councillor Howard Sykes, Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader, who is seconding the proposal said: “Our budget amendment is simple but effective.  After listening to the people that actually pay for these services in the first place, we have identified savings that will release money to re-invest in the front-line services that the public value.”  

“In the next year, the Liberal Democrats will save £1 million by cutting Civic Centre bureaucracy and waste to spend on these front-line services as well as tweaking the Capital Programme to achieve maximum benefit to the people who matter, the public, without any additional increase in expenditure or loss of service,” added Councillor Sykes.

Councillor Gloster added “It would be remiss of me not to mention the so-called proposals the Conservative Group on Oldham Council have submitted, the first time in living memory for me. At least they will have something different to vote for instead of, as usual, voting for the Labour budget.

“When it was first released, I thought for a moment that it was an old Liberal Democrat amendment that had been incorrectly published, however, upon further reading it is clear that the Conservative Group, who failed to submit any Equality Impact Assessments with their proposals for scrutiny, they have stolen a number of our previous budget amendments.  Ironically in the past they voted against some of these very same proposals when we brought them before the Council, but now appear to have had a change of heart.”

Councillor Sykes concluded: “The Conservatives have dragged together a hotch potch of mainly our old suggestions and published a so-called amendment that relies upon raiding council reserves as an alternative to finding real savings.  They simply rely, in the main, upon money within rapidly depleting council reserves which is risky and reckless and just delays larger cuts – which will be in key front-line services – until next year.  A typical Conservative tactic of kicking the can down the road, something they have clearly learned from the Government.”

Detailed copy of the proposals:

https://committees.oldham.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=41143#mgDocuments

£500+ tax on caring is unfair and unjust

Crompton Liberal Democrat Councillor Louie Hamblett who is the Shadow Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care expressed alarm at the recent announcement by the government to end free COVID tests.  

Councillor Hamblett said, “Charging people for the tests they need to safely see vulnerable loved ones is a tax on caring, that risks leaving millions of people in lockdown by stealth. Throughout the pandemic, people have been trying hard to do the right thing and keep others safe. The Government should not be making that harder.”

The latest figures show that every week nearly four million people take regular Covid tests, taking two tests a week on average. This includes people who take tests to protect their elderly relatives and friends, or vulnerable workers who work in people-facing industries such as hospitality and are concerned about their health.

Those people now face an average hit of £534 a year, assuming lateral flow tests cost around £5.80 each. This is based on the average costs of a lateral flow test in similar Western countries including Belgium, France, Spain and the US.

Councillor Hamblett also added, “Yet again, hard-working people are being asked to choose between their weekly shop or paying to see loved ones in care homes or hospitals. Surely such a measure should not be passed?”