Ticketing and Concessionary Travel on Public Transport - United ...

Ev 146 Transport Committee: Evidence
— Where ticket machines are used, many disabled people may have diYculties. For example,
wheelchair users may have diYculty because of the physical design <strong>and</strong> people with learning
disabilities may find such machines confusing.
Free travel also makes operational sense: it contributes to reduced dwell times at stops with disabled
people simply showing their concessionary pass as they board.
Transport <strong>and</strong> Access to Employment
Disabled people typically have lower incomes due to their lack of employment opportunities <strong>and</strong> are more
likely to be socially excluded. According to the Government’s “Disability in Great Britain” report the
incomes of disabled adults are 20 to 30% lower than those of non-disabled people (these figures included
income from disability benefits). The ninth annual report of indicators of poverty <strong>and</strong> social exclusion,
Monitoring Poverty <strong>and</strong> Social Exclusion in the UK 2006, issued in December 2006 by the New Policy
Institute (funded by Joseph Rowntree) reported that disabled people are twice as likely to be unemployed
as non-disabled people. According to the report 30% of disabled adults of working age live on 60% of
average income levels.
Free <strong>Travel</strong> At Any Time
The restriction of concessionary travel during morning peak periods has a severely detrimental eVect on
disabled people travelling to work or looking for work. Research by RNIB suggests that only 27% of blind
<strong>and</strong> partially sighted people of working age are in employment <strong>and</strong> where people are employed they are more
likely to be in lower paid jobs. Employment levels for many other impairment groups are similar if not worse.
Restricting concessions to oV-peak times also aVects disabled people travelling to early medical
appointments, benefit <strong>and</strong> other appointments, or to education <strong>and</strong> leisure activities with an early start time.
Many disabled people prefer to travel to shops <strong>and</strong> town centres early in the day when they are quieter <strong>and</strong>
so more accessible.
As the Government has improved the minimum concessionary fare scheme for older <strong>and</strong> disabled people,
some local authorities have cut back on local schemes that previously oVered more than the statutory
minimum. For example, there has been pressure on a number of schemes that provided free morning peak
travel to blind people but not to other older <strong>and</strong> disabled people. When this issue came up in London, the
Association of London Government (ALG, now renamed London Councils) suggested levelling down but
following a major campaign by disabled people free travel was extended to all disabled people in the morning
peak hours. Our organisations would support the national adoption of the London approach, ie. free
morning peak travel for all disabled people.. The scheme operating in Scotl<strong>and</strong> already oVers this level of
provision.
The Bill would also restrict free travel at the other end of the day by limiting it to travel up to 11.00 pm.
That limit is likely to eVect the mobility of younger disabled people in particular who want to go out for the
evening with their peers.
Other Support for Extra Transport Costs
It is widely believed that disabled people in employment are able to obtain assistance with the costs of
travelling to <strong>and</strong> from work through the Department for Work <strong>and</strong> Pensions Access to Work Scheme. In
fact, the Scheme is only available to those disabled people unable to use existing public transport that
operates between their home <strong>and</strong> their place of work, who would therefore incur additional costs travel
costs, for example, in using taxis. The Scheme takes no account of the cost of public transport.
While we are pleased that the Bill would not prevent local authorities from continuing to oVer more
generous concessions than the statutory minimum, we are concerned that exercise of this discretion would
eVectively create a postcode lottery for disabled people. Such lotteries are already evident, for example to
resolve a budget crisis Christchurch District Council has removed the right for blind people to travel for free
in the morning peak despite the fact that the Dorset-wide County scheme oVers free morning peak-time
travel to blind people. Guide Dogs, RNIB <strong>and</strong> Warwickshire Association for the Blind worked without
success to try to reverse a decision by Stratford-on-Avon District Council to remove free perk-time travel
for visually impaired people in the morning peak hours following the introduction of free oV-peak travel
for all disabled people in April 2006.
For the Government to include morning peak-time travel in the statutory minimum would be consistent
with its commitment to get more disabled people into work: a policy they are currently promoting through
their reform of Incapacity Benefit. Indeed the New Policy Institute report cited above pointed to the lack
of access to paid work as the main reason for poverty amongst disabled people.
There are no time restrictions on the schemes which have been introduced in Wales <strong>and</strong> Scotl<strong>and</strong>.
Similarly there are no time restrictions on using the Freedom pass in the morning peak hours in London on
buses, Underground <strong>and</strong> the DLR <strong>and</strong> this has not caused diYculties despite the huge pressure on public
transport in the morning peak hours <strong>and</strong> late in the evening in the capital city. However, if local authorities