If you want to fix public transport in the UK, give local areas real power

Lower fares and proper investment will come naturally if cities and regions control their own destiny, argues Jon Stone

Modern city trams in Bordeaux. France has invested heavily in rapid transit systems in the past 20 years (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A new report by the Clean Cities Campaign shows that public transport is more expensive in the UK’s biggest cities than in other major metropolises around Europe.

The methodology is robust – instead of just comparing arbitrary ticket prices, researchers looked at how much a monthly pass for all public transport would cost. They then compared this to local incomes and ranked the cities.

London, Manchester, and Birmingham ranked at the bottom of all 36 major cities examined – well behind neighbours such as Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Copenhagen.