With Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone coming into force on 1 June 2021, hopping on the bus is the easy answer for people facing an £8-a-day charge to drive into the city centre. And some people will be able to get £2,000 of free bus travel.

David Bradford, Managing Director of Birmingham bus company National Express West Midlands, said:

“Getting on the bus is the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to avoid Clean Air Zone charges.

“All our buses are Clean Air Zone compliant - we don’t get charged the eight pounds, and neither do you.

“Get the bus and you’re also helping clean up the environment and improve air quality in our communities.”

People who work inside the Clean Air Zone and earn less than £30,000 a year can scrap their car if its engine is too polluting to go into the zone without paying the charge. They will then get £2,000 put on a travel account with Transport for West Midlands - that’s three years of free bus travel.

The money goes onto a card that can just be tapped on the ticket reader on board the bus. It can also be spent on train and tram tickets. And it can be used to buy travel for other people in the same household.

Even people who don’t qualify can get some bus bargains to avoid Clean Air Zone charges.

• A National Express West Midlands day ticket is £4.60 at the moment. The Clean Air Zone charge is £8.
• When Covid restrictions are lifted - hopefully on 21 June 2021 if England remains on track to come out of lockdown - National Express will cut their fares, so a day ticket on the buses will be just £4. That will give us the cheapest bus fares in England.
• With many people not going into work five days a week, the company also has flexible fares to suit. These are even cheaper than a day ticket - in fact, they’re £2,500 a year cheaper than what it costs to run a car.

David Bradford added:

“We know that people really like our buses when they try them. And as soon as lockdown restrictions are lifted - hopefully in the next few weeks - we’ll be able to reveal some exciting new incentives to get new customers to give the bus a go.”