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New £10 annual charge for Greater Manchester Pensioners' Passholders to use tram and train for free

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Rail Ranger

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Information about the new £10 annual charge for free off-peak tram and train use by Greater Manchester Pensioners' travel pass holders is now on the TfGM website here: https://tfgm.com/tickets-and-passes/add-tram-and-train. The charge needs to be paid by 31st January if cardholders wish to use trams and trains for free from 1st February. Payment can be made from 5th January online or at a TfGM Travelshop.
 
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Joe Paxton

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This is similar to the Metro Gold Card issued by Nexus for travel on the T&W Metro... I had thought it was more expensive but actually it's only £12 for residents of Tyne & Wear, and is also available at a cost of £24 to non-T&W residents who hold English Concessionary Passes - which is something TfGM are not offering (i.e. to ENCTS pass holders who live outside Greater Manchester).

I imagine most of the non-T&W resident Metro Gold Card holders probably live in Northumberland or County Durham (i.e. the two modern administrative counties that are adjacent to T&W).
 

Harpers Tate

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Is what SYPTE should have done to permit ongoing "extended" use of ENCTS passes (on trains, including certain out of county routes, and use 0900-0930 and after 2300) when funding meant the free scheme was cut back. Would have avoided the protests (freedom riders) and bad publicity. But they aren't that forward thinking, sadly.
 

Bletchleyite

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Is what SYPTE should have done to permit ongoing "extended" use of ENCTS passes (on trains, including certain out of county routes, and use 0900-0930 and after 2300) when funding meant the free scheme was cut back. Would have avoided the protests (freedom riders) and bad publicity. But they aren't that forward thinking, sadly.

£10 must, once the admin cost has been deducted, surely nowhere near cover the cost of this.
 

Rail Ranger

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In GM, the proceeds from the £10 charge are being used to subsidise more bus services. The take will be significant (there are half a million pass holders in GM).
 

option

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£10 must, once the admin cost has been deducted, surely nowhere near cover the cost of this.

Payment processing would be no more than 50p
Adding the process to the existing smart reader/pass system won't have cost much.
 

Ianno87

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In GM, the proceeds from the £10 charge are being used to subsidise more bus services. The take will be significant (there are half a million pass holders in GM).

Assuming there's an uptake of about 20% or so of the fee, that's revenue of about £1m per year, less whatever the Admin Costs of the scheme are. Fund a minor bus route or two maybe?
 

Bletchleyite

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Assuming there's an uptake of about 20% or so of the fee, that's revenue of about £1m per year, less whatever the Admin Costs of the scheme are. Fund a minor bus route or two maybe?

It will however have negative effects in damaging the network concept - people will be calling for bus routes duplicating trains so they can save their tenner.

It'd be better to put a couple of quid on Council Tax, to be honest, though I'd imagine they have been capped so can't?
 

DaveB10780

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It will however have negative effects in damaging the network concept - people will be calling for bus routes duplicating trains so they can save their tenner.

It'd be better to put a couple of quid on Council Tax, to be honest, though I'd imagine they have been capped so can't?
Got to laugh at this, folks who get this major extra benefits for living in a PTE area like Manchester or London should just think about those of us who live outside and just get buses after 0930 and not after 2300 (no idea why this should be the case). However we probably do have more fresh air to compensate :D
 

PeterC

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Got to laugh at this, folks who get this major extra benefits for living in a PTE area like Manchester or London should just think about those of us who live outside and just get buses after 0930 and not after 2300 (no idea why this should be the case). However we probably do have more fresh air to compensate :D
What is really galling is when your station is an LUL one but the best you can get is putting a senior railcard on Oyster while a working age Londoner can get 7 years travel on the same line for £20.
 

Rail Ranger

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Assuming there's an uptake of about 20% or so of the fee, that's revenue of about £1m per year, less whatever the Admin Costs of the scheme are. Fund a minor bus route or two maybe?
The take-up of the similar charge for the Tyne & Wear Metro is 30%.
 

geoffk

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Assuming there's an uptake of about 20% or so of the fee, that's revenue of about £1m per year, less whatever the Admin Costs of the scheme are. Fund a minor bus route or two maybe?
A no brainer for me as Littleborough to Manchester is £4.30 return with senior railcard, so two trips to Manchester and one to Rochdale and the £10 fee is paid for. TfGM must also offer a free pass for buses only, as required by law. I didn't know about the 31st January deadline though. Is TfGM going to write to everyone with a pass as not all are on line.
 

pdeaves

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Surprised that covers the cost of collecting it. I bet it will go up substantially.
Whether or not the income covers the scheme admin of collecting the fee, would it not also limit the outgoing money (i.e. only X% of people will use this so only X% of the money needs to go to the travel providers)?
 

Ianno87

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A no brainer for me as Littleborough to Manchester is £4.30 return with senior railcard, so two trips to Manchester and one to Rochdale and the £10 fee is paid for. TfGM must also offer a free pass for buses only, as required by law. I didn't know about the 31st January deadline though. Is TfGM going to write to everyone with a pass as not all are on line.

Texted my Mum about it (reasonably on-line savvy and still in her 60s) and she had no idea about it.
 

scrapy

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Given the poor publicity (hopefully there will be a proper advertising campaign and letters to all affected), there will be a lot of penalty fares issued in February.
 

Greybeard33

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Given the poor publicity (hopefully there will be a proper advertising campaign and letters to all affected), there will be a lot of penalty fares issued in February.
Unlikely. If you try to touch in with an invalid card on Metrolink, the reader flashes red and makes a rude noise. Whereas on the train you would probably get away with it. Ticket barriers are hit and miss about accepting the cards anyway, while gateline staff and conductors have no means of reading the data on the card to check it is valid.
 

geoffk

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Texted my Mum about it (reasonably on-line savvy and still in her 60s) and she had no idea about it.
I had an e-mail from TfGM today but they will have to reach those not on e-mail or not "on-line savvy".
 

Greybeard33

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I also received a "Changes to how you can travel with your concessionary pass" email from TfGM today.

A few details:
  • If you want to pay the £10 online, you will have to create a "get me there" account and link the pass to it. You can then also load the card with tickets for paid tram travel before 09:30. After paying the £10 you will have to touch in at a Metrolink card reader within 14 days, to update the data on the card. This may be inconvenient for those who mainly use the trains, in which case you can pay the £10 in person at a TfGM travelshop or (after 25 Jan) at a PayPoint shop, and get the card updated on the spot.
  • It appears that those who do not pay the £10 will still get free bus travel from 09:30 to midnight within GM, rather than up to 23:30 per the basic ENTCS scheme.
  • Disabled ENCTS pass holders are not liable for the £10 charge; they will still get free bus, tram and train travel from 09:30 to midninght, as well as concessionary fares before 09:30.
 
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