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

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Transport should commission an evaluation of the benefits of the national scheme for
free local bus travel.
Development of concessionary travel
• Under the Transport Act 1985, local authorities have discretionary powers to provide
concessionary travel for elderly <strong>and</strong> disabled groups. Most provided half-fares on offpeak
buses within the local area. Although this is largely superseded by subsequent
legislation, the power to provide local enhancements, such as concessionary rail travel
<strong>and</strong> taxi tokens, continues.
• The Transport Act 2000 introduced a national minimum st<strong>and</strong>ard across Engl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong>
Wales for concessionary travel. It imposed a duty on district <strong>and</strong> unitary councils to
provide half-fare travel on buses within the council area between 9.30 <strong>and</strong> 23.00 <strong>and</strong> all
day on Saturday, Sunday <strong>and</strong> bank holidays. A concessionary travel pass had to be
issued at no charge.
• The <strong>Travel</strong> Concessions (Eligibility) Act 2002 equalised the age of eligibility between
men <strong>and</strong> women at 60. The age for entitlement will increase for both sexes between
2010 <strong>and</strong> 2020 in line with women’s retirement age.
• From April 2006, the national st<strong>and</strong>ard was extended to provide free off-peak bus travel
in the local area. The additional cost of free local concessionary travel is £350m pa for
Engl<strong>and</strong>, (£450m for UK).
• From April 2008 around 11 million older <strong>and</strong> disabled people will be entitled to free
off-peak bus travel throughout Engl<strong>and</strong>, as a result of the <strong>Concessionary</strong> Bus <strong>Travel</strong> Act
2007. The Act allows for reciprocal arrangements to be made between Engl<strong>and</strong>, Wales,
Scotl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Northern Irel<strong>and</strong> to recognise their respective concession schemes. The
additional cost is £212 million in 2008/09. The Department for Transport has
introduced a new funding distribution formula for travel concession authorities in
respect of this element of 2008 concessionary bus travel.
• <strong>Concessionary</strong> travel is a devolved matter. Wales <strong>and</strong> Scotl<strong>and</strong> introduced free national
off-peak bus travel for elderly <strong>and</strong> disabled people in 2002 <strong>and</strong> 2003 respectively. The
Wales concession now includes free rail travel for certain residents on Conwy Valley
<strong>and</strong> Heart of Wales Railways on a 12-month pilot basis. Since April 2007 all Northern
Irel<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Republic of Irel<strong>and</strong> residents aged 65 <strong>and</strong> over can avail of free internal
travel on bus <strong>and</strong> rail in both jurisdictions.
The costs <strong>and</strong> funding arrangements
78. There are 324 travel concession authorities in Engl<strong>and</strong>. These are the passenger
transport executives, the London boroughs, the district councils <strong>and</strong> unitary councils. In
London <strong>and</strong> the shire counties, the travel concession authorities are not the transport
authorities, which can have repercussions for coordinating expenditure on bus services.