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

98. We continue to believe that local enhancements to the national concessionary travel
scheme can offer important benefits. We agree with the Passenger Transport Executive
Group <strong>and</strong> others that these enhancements are best determined locally. Extending
concessionary travel to rail services would be costly <strong>and</strong> it is doubtful if rail services
currently have adequate capacity. There may be scope <strong>and</strong> a good value-for-money case
for extending the national concession to include lightly-used rail services, such as
community rail partnerships, as in Wales. The Government should also consider in
greater depth than it has so far the costs <strong>and</strong> implications of providing greater support
for community transport, particularly in areas where bus services are sparse. Where
local authorities are currently profiting from concessionary travel funding, perhaps as a
result of a sparse local bus network, they should be encouraged to enhance local
concessionary travel arrangements.
99. <strong>Concessionary</strong> travel schemes have been linked with major ticketing changes. In
Scotl<strong>and</strong>, where free national concessionary bus travel was introduced in 2003, the
concessionary travel pass forms part of the Citizen smartcard (an ITSO-compliant card)
which has other potential applications. In Engl<strong>and</strong>, the Government has stipulated that the
new travel passes (issued by the local travel concession authorities) must be ITSO
smartcards. If <strong>and</strong> when buses are equipped to read the concessionary fare smartcards that
have been issued, the operators should be able to h<strong>and</strong>le local enhancements more easily.
The current situation whereby 11 million concessionary travel smartcards have been
issued but most buses are not equipped to read them is daft. The Government needs to
agree a programme with bus operators for installation of ITSO smartcard equipment
on buses.
100. There is a good case to be made for concessionary travel to be extended to other
groups. Many young people <strong>and</strong> those on low incomes find bus fares expensive. In 2002,
the Commission for Integrated Transport advised that greater benefits would be achieved
at lower cost by extending half-fares to young people <strong>and</strong> those on low incomes, rather
than free travel for those over 60. 92 It is unclear why the Government ignored this advice.
Local authorities have a well-being power. 93 If the Local Transport Bill is enacted as
proposed, the well-being power will be extended to passenger transport executives.
Amongst other things, this permits these authorities to provide travel concessions for other
groups of people. Implementation, however, depends very much on local priorities <strong>and</strong> the
availability of local funding, which is unlikely if they are struggling to pay for existing
concessionary travel schemes. If the Government is minded at any stage to extend the
English national concessionary travel scheme, young people <strong>and</strong> others identified by
the Commission for Integrated Transport should receive priority consideration for
concessionary travel.
92 Commission for Integrated Transport, Public Subsidy for the bus industry, 25 February 2002
93 Part 1 of the Local Government Act 2000 provides local authorities with a discretionary power (the well-being
power) to undertake any action to promote or improve the social, economic <strong>and</strong> environmental well-being of their
area.
29