JIM McMahon, MP for Oldham West and Royton, has said he’s looking forward to making bus journeys in Greater Manchester as affordable as those in London under Andy Burnham’s ‘levelling up’ plans.

It comes after the re-elected Greater Manchester mayor said the Government must now listen to the need for functioning, affordable public transport, calling what is currently on offer “not levelling up.”

In Manchester, a single bus fare from Middleton to Piccadilly Gardens costs £2.50 while a single tram fare from Piccadilly Gardens to MediaCityUK costs £2.80

A single bus journey in London meanwhile costs £1.55, while a single tube journey over a distance of around two miles costs £2.40. There is also a daily cap of £7.40 for travel across bus and tube journeys for Zones 1 and 2.

Mr Burnham has previously said that “catching a bus in Harpurhey in Greater Manchester should cost the same as catching the bus in Haringey, in London.”

The former costs around £4 while in London the fare would be £1.50.

Mr McMahon, who is also the Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “Andy’s absolutely right that catching a bus journey across Greater Manchester should not be more expensive than it is for a similar journey in London. And I look forward to working with him to fix that.

“Better public transport should be at the heart of everything we do as a city-region, to improve the number and quality of jobs on offer to our residents and to make our 10 towns more accessible and just nicer places to live and work.”