September 15 2026
Alison Edwards is Director of Policy and External Relations at the Confederation of Passenger Transport
It’s very early to start thinking about Christmas. But as the days shorten and the evenings draw in, it won’t be long before the first, far too early, strings of tinsel appear in high street windows.
As the summer ends, local authorities across Britain turn their minds to finalising transport promotions to encourage people to travel into town centres over the festive period.
It’s easy to see why this is a priority – one pound in every ten spent in retail over a year is spent in December. And for pubs, bars and restaurants, the Christmas party season is make or break. Any local authority will want to make the most of that annual boost to the economy.
There’s a key policy decision to be taken here, though, and it concerns sustainable transport. Across much of the nation, buses are the ideal way to get into town – they offer quick, flexible journeys and allow people to get into the Christmas spirit without having to worry too much about the drive home.
A number of local authorities have latched onto this. Swansea, for example, worked with local operators to offer free journeys to and from the city centre during December weekends last year. Perth & Kinross funded free bus travel for all on the Saturday before Christmas.
Meanwhile, Worcestershire capped fares at £1 throughout December, while North East Lincolnshire capped fares at £1.50 during evenings and weekends. Other local authorities – including Portsmouth – chose ‘Small Business Saturday’ to offer free or cheap bus travel.
From the bus industry’s perspective, all such offers are very welcome – as long as they’re adequately funded and reimbursed. They help to normalise the habit of using public transport, they promote the virtues of buses and they might just attract some new customers who become habitual bus users.
It’s not good practice everywhere though. There’s another category of local authority which views the world differently. These are the ones who choose to add to traffic congestion by incentivising people to drive their cars into town in the run-up to Christmas.
A remarkable number of councils have taken to opening up their car parks for free to Christmas shoppers. Take, for example, Tamworth which mocked up a picture of Santa in a tiny hatchback car to trumpet “free parking in Tamworth car parks” on Saturdays in December.
Taunton gave retailers a “nice surprise” by making 10 of its car parks free for shoppers, while Wolverhampton declared “happy Christmas to all, and to all…free parking”. East Dunbartonshire, Gloucester, Hinckley & Bosworth – the list of boroughs offering largesse to motorists goes on.
Let’s be clear. What may seem like a friendly, crowd-pleasing Christmas gesture makes little sense when it comes to suspending car park charges. It goes against direction of travel in national policy – more cars will simply mean more congestion and pollution.
The Government passed the Bus Services Act with the specific goal of giving local authorities powers to boost bus travel. So why counter that by subsidising driving?
And, of course, it is worth noting that with the Christmas spirit in abundance, the run-up to the festive period is one of the highest risk periods of the year for drink driving.
Seven out of ten journeys in England are less than five miles. According to the Campaign for Better Transport, 86% of people live within a ten-minute walk to a bus stop. And people who use buses like them: Transport Focus reported this year that bus satisfaction is 85% in England and 91% in Scotland.
So as the season of goodwill approaches, to promote bus, rather than car, travel to Christmas shoppers. Councils should make a list, check it twice, and put buses before cheap parking offers.