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

Ev 178 Transport Committee: Evidence
65. Local authorities already have the discretion to oVer enhancements or an alternative to the statutory
minimum concession under section 93 of the Transport Act 1985. This includes the ability to oVer
concessions on other modes. Such enhancements depend on local authorities’ assessment of local need <strong>and</strong>
their overall financial priorities. The Department’s survey of travel concession authorities (TCAs) in 2006
showed that:
— the majority of TCAs oVered some form of enhancement <strong>and</strong>/or alternative to the statutory
scheme;
— in all the major urban areas, the Passenger Transport Executives (PTEs) funded schemes which
extended oV-peak concessionary travel to local rail <strong>and</strong>/or to light rail services;
— over 40 TCAs stated that they oVered taxi tokens or taxi vouchers as an alternative to a bus pass.
Many of these were rural districts where there were fewer scheduled local bus services; <strong>and</strong>
— some 60 TCAs oVered schemes which provided dem<strong>and</strong> responsive public transport services such
as “dial-a-ride” buses. Around 40 of those TCAs included dem<strong>and</strong> responsive services within their
local enhancements as part of their bus concessionary travel scheme.
66. Integration of concessionary travel across modes is clearly desirable, but aside from the significant
cost involved, there is a risk that extending the national concession to some other modes could have
unintended consequences. For example, there have been suggestions that, community transport services
could be included in the new national concession. But it is not clear that the community transport sector
could meet the extra dem<strong>and</strong> generated from such a change, certainly in the short term. Some operators
are concerned about the extra administrative, accounting <strong>and</strong> auditing requirements that would result from
inclusion, which may discourage volunteers from donating their time to help run these valuable services.
67. For the geographical integration of concessionary travel, the national bus travel concession is a major
step forward—improving social inclusion benefits for older <strong>and</strong> disabled people in allowing them greater
freedom to travel, for free, by local bus in Engl<strong>and</strong>.
March 2007
Memor<strong>and</strong>um from Community Transport Association (CTA) (TPT 35)
Inquiry into <strong>Ticketing</strong> on Public Transport
In response to the Transport Committee’s call for evidence into the above inquiry, the CTA would like
to comment on two of the key questions raised by the Committee in its call for evidence, namely:
— Is the Government’s concessionary fares strategy, including the proposed scheme for
concessionary bus travel, adequate?
— Are concessionary fares schemes suYciently integrated across diVerent modes of transport <strong>and</strong>
diVerent geographical areas?
The CTA believes that the Government’s current concessionary fares strategy is inadequate to address
the needs of all eligible concessionary fares travellers. The strategy does not suYciently address the needs
of those eligible older <strong>and</strong> disabled travellers who cannot physically access mainstream bus services or who
are so geographically remote from such bus services as to render the services useless. Such passengers are
required to pay for transport on community <strong>and</strong> other services. Integrated ticketing solutions have the
potential to create a further barrier to ending this discrimination if the needs of community transport
operators are not considered in implementing such solutions.
The CTA is of the opinion that concessionary fares schemes are not suYciently integrated across modes
of transport <strong>and</strong> diVerent geographical areas. <strong>Concessionary</strong> travel, including the extensions proposed in the
<strong>Concessionary</strong> Bus <strong>Travel</strong> Bill currently going through Parliament, suVer from the inherent discrimination
mentioned above. Local administering authorities have the discretion to reimburse community transport
operators for the provision of concessionary travel, but in practice few choose to do so. There is, therefore,
significant variation in the concessionary travel strategies of diVerent administering authorities across the
country. As the national extension comes into force under the <strong>Concessionary</strong> Bus <strong>Travel</strong> Bill in April 2008,
this means that travellers will be subject to diVerent policies in diVerent areas. It is entirely likely in some
cases that travellers will be subject to such variations in policy on diVerent sections of the same journey.
Again, this represents a barrier to the development of accessible <strong>and</strong> responsive concessionary travel
schemes. It is, therefore imperative that integrated ticketing solutions are developed which can be easily <strong>and</strong>
cost eVectively implemented by small scale local community operators as well the large commercial
operators. Such solutions <strong>and</strong> the extension of concessionary travel reimbursement to community transport
operators would combine to have the added benefit of facilitating the establishment of local community run
feeder services to link with inter-urban mainstream services.
It has been estimated that the cost of extending the concessionary travel provision to enable beneficiaries
to use community transport across Engl<strong>and</strong> is about £25 million. This equates to an additional 4% on the
government’s overall budget for concessionary travel or less than the cost of a mile of motorway (£30
million). The CTA believes this is a relatively small cost to end the current postcode lottery <strong>and</strong> ensure equal
access to services for all eligible travellers.