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Free pensioners' bus travel costing £25m

3:53pm Monday 6th September 2010 in


FREE bus travel for Lancashire’s pensioners is costing £25million a year, it has been revealed.

Around the same number of free trips were made last year, working out at about £1 for each journey.

But the free bus passes are set to be phased out for some pensioners as the government will begin to increase the minimum age for the benefit from April.

The figures appear in a review of the concessionary fares scheme to be presented to councillors this week.

It also reveals the free passes are most popular in Rossendale, where 85 per cent of pensioners have signed up to the scheme.

Yesterday Tory highways chief Tim Ashton, who has admitted he would not ‘fight tooth and nail’ to keep the perk when budgets were cut, said: “I think we will keep it, but everything has to be looked at.”

Under the concessionary fares scheme, the government gives grants to each district aimed at covering the cost of free bus trips that set off in each area.

In Lancashire this sparked furious rows after it was revealed areas where the scheme was in surplus, including most of East Lancashire, were giving up their grants to make up for the shortfall in other areas, including Preston, Lancaster and Blackpool.

This is no longer the case, the report reveals, because lobbying to central government has secured an extra £3.5million.

Another fallout came when the Department for Transport was also called to rule on a disagreement between the councils and the bus companies on how much the operators should be reimbursed.

The coalition government’s proposed changes have been highly controversial, with David Cameron accused of going back on his pledge during the televised debates that Labour claims of cuts to free bus travel.

Pensioners’ passes, known as ‘Nowcards’, entitle them to free bus travel anywhere in the country between 9.30am and 11pm on weekdays, and all day at weekends.

Comments(14)

tonygreaves says...
4:09pm Mon 6 Sep 10

This is a national scheme administered locally, and I don't think the County Council is in a position to stop it even if "Tory Highways Chief" Tim Ashton wanted to do so.

Tony Greaves

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your granny says...
4:12pm Mon 6 Sep 10

with bus fares so high and with pensions so low, there needs to be a middle ground. People need to travel for provisions because there are no more local shops, and the cost of running a car is so high. This condem government should not remove a service without looking at the ramifications.

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scotty_beam_us_up says...
4:29pm Mon 6 Sep 10

This is another misleading headline. It's not costing 25million. It just means if all the pensioners had paid for their trips it would possibly amount to 25 million. If the travel wasn't free I very much doubt the pensioners would make so many trips.
The article makes it sound like pensioners are taking 25 million which is clearly not the case.

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PK Bailey says...
4:31pm Mon 6 Sep 10

There are a lot of pensioners that can easily afford to pay for the bus.When my father retired on state pension only, he said he had never been better off and he worked all his life.After all when one gets older you are not inclined to go out the same and in a lot of cases these people are just saving to leave money for their children.Not an easy decison on what to do for the best.

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pez63 says...
4:37pm Mon 6 Sep 10

I can see where the tories are going with this,make all old gits walk everywhere they go then they won`t need the heating grants as there to busy walking to get cold,this is exactly what the New World Order is going to be.If you become surplus to requirements and you are not contributing to the ecomony reguardless what you have paid through out your working life you will not get the free passage in life that everyone as grown to exploit,the namby-pamby society that everyone as has grown with is over.Its time to open your eyes and look what is going on right under your noses.Times ticking none of the new coalition plans seem to be what either of the parties promised and now that Cameron as met Obama he also knows the plans for the New World Order and he is obviously going to agree with what ever the president tells him.Look at the new world order plans at= thecrowhouse.com

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happycyclist says...
4:49pm Mon 6 Sep 10

If it weren't for pensioners, some of these bus routes would probably have been lost -inconveniencing many other people, and some of the pensioners who now use the bus might get in their cars and add to the congestion on the roads.
The bus passes give the elderly more independence, too, making them less likely to be prisoners in their own homes and less likely to need any sort of care.

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pull some strings says...
6:09pm Mon 6 Sep 10

Sad as it might be I'm afraid this is another example of the previous Labour Government spending money it didn't have!

It should have been targetted at people that 'need' bus travel and struggle to afford it.

It would probably have been affordable on that basis, and I'm pretty sure that's what the Tories want to put in place.

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ste.g says...
6:26pm Mon 6 Sep 10

leave the pensioners alone they have earned them passes,if they have payed in all their lives let them enjoy what luxuries they can get in their last years.

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Burnley student says...
7:52pm Mon 6 Sep 10

I have a real issue with this argument that OAP's have worked all their lives for these cards.
They simply didn't exist until relatively recently so the people who now use them could not possibly have worked so many years with one of these cards in sight. We simply can't sustain them.

Although I appreciate the scheme allows many elderly people to leave their homes and rightly enjoy their often well earned retirement I don't feel it's right for the rest of bus users to have to foot the bill.

Prices have been rising to cover the cost of this luxury scheme that in my opinion has been handed out to too many people, rises that I don't want to pay.

This scheme won't exist when it's my turn to use it, the people who use it didn't know they were getting it and it places an unfair burden on the system.

Don't get rid of it Mr Cameron, just taker it off those who would get by without it!

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Jack Shrake says...
9:32pm Mon 6 Sep 10

In my opinion, those pensioners who don't need the bus pass, should be honest and hand them in. I got on one bus and had to stand; all but one of the other passengers were "mature" and had taken all the seats. Paying passengers had to stand! The authorities need to take responsibility and sort this mess out.

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burner says...
11:05pm Mon 6 Sep 10

scotty and happyc - two EXCELLENT points. Good observations.

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burnley lass says...
3:10am Tue 7 Sep 10

These bus passes are handed out to anyone who applies for them once they turn 60 years of age, even if they are working. It would be a fairer distribution if the bus pass was given when the person reached the age of retirement and went onto the Age Pension which at present I believe is 60 years of age for a female and 65 for a male.Why should someone working be entitled to a free bus pass when they get to 60 years of age. The government seems to pay out a lot of money for uneccessary things besides the bus pass.

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duke bar says...
11:43am Tue 7 Sep 10

Leave these buss passes alone.Most of the old aged folk worked all their lives. If they get something back when they are over 60 so be it.

They have paid taxes ,paid for houses etc contributed to England .UNLIKE THE DOLE DOSSERS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS.Who get everything for nothing.

Leave the old folk alone .We will all get old one day

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ursulavasey says...
2:08pm Tue 7 Sep 10

In my opinion the concessionary travel scheme should be kept, but the way it is run needs to be changed. Instead of a free-for-all, unlimited pass, each pass should have a weekly value, a maximum number of journeys, or a similar restriction, attached to it. This would give pensioners the ability to travel where they like, but not to just board buses willy-nilly. Hopefully, this would stop pensioners using the bus for a ride to the next bus stop, just a few hundred yards away. If a person has a severe disability, then these restrictions would not apply to them. For people who are elderly, but fit enough to walk to a bus stop, they shouldn't need to travel one stop. Obviously, in rural areas, where bus stops are less closely placed, a single bus stop journey would be further, but on urban journeys, bus stops are usually fairly close together.

The over-riding message in this posting is "use it, but don't abuse it".

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