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Over 60s free bus travel

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http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Publictransport/BusAndCoachTravel/DG_10036264

Free bus travel in England for older and disabled people

Eligible older and disabled people are entitled to free off-peak travel on local buses anywhere in England. Find out whether you are eligible and where and how you can use your free bus pass

Where you can use your bus pass


If you're eligible for a free bus pass, you can use it anywhere in England during 'off-peak' times. Off-peak is:


  • between 9.30 am and 11.00 pm Monday to Friday
  • all day at weekends and on public holidays
I am correct in thinking that over 60s in England can use there bus pass anywhere in Engalnd regardless of which LA issued it (9.30+ resirtictions ect aside)?
 
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Max

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How long has that been the case? When the scheem started you only got travel within/to/from the issuing authority.

Where as in Wales its always been everywhere (in Wales) from Day 1.

Since the National Concessionary Pass scheme was started it has always been free nationwide travel on local buses. There hasn't been a change. Individual LAs can provide extra benefits for travel in their area (tram or train travel, or extended hours for example).
 

Ferret

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Since the National Concessionary Pass scheme was started it has always been free nationwide travel on local buses. There hasn't been a change. Individual LAs can provide extra benefits for travel in their area (tram or train travel, or extended hours for example).

Yes, although I wouldn't be surprised if a future spending review by a Government resulted in changes.

 
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Since the National Concessionary Pass scheme was started it has always been free nationwide travel on local buses. There hasn't been a change. Individual LAs can provide extra benefits for travel in their area (tram or train travel, or extended hours for example).

I stand corrected, thanks for your help
 

Stats

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The Transport Act 2000 entitled those that had reached state pension age (subsequently amended to age 60 for men as well as women) and certain disabled people half-price concession on local bus services in your local authority from June 2001. From April 2006 this was amended to free travel on local bus services in your local authority. From April 2008 this was extended to give free travel on local bus services anywhere in England.

The right to free bus travel for elderly people is a protected commitment in the Coalition agreement.
 

snail

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The Transport Act 2000 entitled those that had reached state pension age (subsequently amended to age 60 for men as well as women)
and now linked (for men and women) to the state pension age for women, currently 62y3m and increasing every month until it reaches age 66 in October 2020.
 

bicbasher

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It's worth remembering the rules are different depending on the town. London offers free bus travel 24 hours a day, while it can be a 9.30am start elsewhere.

Local authority residents may be able to use their concessionary pass earlier or later in their own area and outside your local area, free travel is from 0930-2300 Mon-Fri and all day at weekends and public holidays.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Is there any truth in the story that I heard today concerning the Isle of Wight making an appeal to the Government to only allow the ENCP for island residents use on the island when the latest regulation came into force and not to allow holiday visitors from the mainland to obtain this concession, as they would not have enough funds in their particular transport budget to fund this, over and above any existing Government funding for the scheme ?

Obviously this was not allowed by the Government, as the ENCP has always been allowed on the island for all holders since that time, irrespective of English area of issue.
 

starrymarkb

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I believe the Open Top Tour Buses on the IoW don't accept out of area passes, but local ones are accepted (as some places are only served by the Tour bus)
 

tom1649

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Does the free travel for over 60s not make travel more expensive for everyone else?

The subsidy for this scheme as set out in The Transport Act 2000 may have been better spent keeping local (particularly rural) services running. After all, what is the use of free travel if there are no bus services left to use it on?
 

brompton rail

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Does the free travel for over 60s not make travel more expensive for everyone else?

The subsidy for this scheme as set out in The Transport Act 2000 may have been better spent keeping local (particularly rural) services running. After all, what is the use of free travel if there are no bus services left to use it on?

Possibly true, but it is like arguing that taxes spent on building and maintaining roads could be better spent on better cycle routes, more hospitals etc. We elect politicians to take these decisions on our behalf, but many of them are aware that people over 60 are more likely to vote and so try to be all things to all (wo)men!
 

jonhewes

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I have a free bus pass on account of having been recently diagnosed with Epilepsy and having had to surrender my driving license.

What is even more of a bonus is that my local council allow me to use my bus pass, which means I get to and from work completely free of charge :)

Fingers crossed, I shall get my driving license back in March (assuming I have no further seizures).
 

blackfive460

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I believe the Open Top Tour Buses on the IoW don't accept out of area passes, but local ones are accepted (as some places are only served by the Tour bus)

Not sure about local passes but they do (or at least did last year) give a discount to pass holders.
 

bus man

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Let's try and make some sense of this

The law demands that each local council issues to its residents who have reached the required age a pass which allows them to travel on registered local bus services free of charge any where within Britain between the hours of 930- 2300 Mon-Fri and all day Sat / Sun & Bank Holidays .


Other pass schemes work in Scotland & Wales and Northern Ireland.

Operators must accept local passes And ANY other pass issued by any council the local Council (or PTE's or county or TFL depending on area) will then reimburse the operator for the journey.

The disabled pass is available to any one who who as certain conditions or who is unable to obtain or as lost their driving licence due to a medical problem which prohibits them from having a licence - this does NOT incude certain drug or alchol related conditioins. Epilepsy is one of the conditions that allow people to get a pass unfortunatley this is not publiced very well and is not well know about.

Councils may extend the "free" travel to include earlier or latter times and may include other forms of transport : tram/ train/ ferry / cable cars etc.

The passes are not valid on national express - unless its registered as a local service - or on tourist services including those that include admission to a venue as part of the ticket. Where a council extends the service it is up to the council to decide if it allows people from outside the area to take part in the extended benifitts.

As mentioned above there is also a "disabled" pass this allows travel all day and in some areas a "helper " pass is also issued to them, however some areas do not accept the "helper " pass from other areas.

I assume that the open top service is no registered as a local service or is a tourist service.



I have looked on the IOW website which isnt very usefull

http://www.iow.gov.uk/council/departments/engineering_services/transport_fleet/Public_Transport/

Looking at the local bus operators site (southern vectis) the open top service is advertised as a tour so therefore the passes arnt valid - however , from the information above it appears that the local council allows there passes to be used.

http://www.islandbuses.info/otdowns.shtml

Details of disabled passes (taken from the site below)

Who is eligible for a disabled person's bus pass

You're eligible for a disabled person's pass if you live in England and are 'eligible disabled'. This means you:

are blind or partially sighted

are profoundly or severely deaf

are without speech

have a disability, or have suffered an injury, which has a substantial and long-term effect on your ability to walk
don’t have arms or have long-term loss of the use of both arms

have a learning disability

You're also eligible disabled if your application for a driving licence would be refused under section 92 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (physical fitness). However, you won't be eligible if you were refused because of persistent misuse of drugs or alcohol.

Full details
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelA.../DG_10036264?CID=TAT&PLA=url_mon&CRE=bus_pass


hope the above information helps


(On a lighter note before this came into place as a planning exercise I sat down and worked out you can get from where I live in sheffield to London in 13 hours using 14 trains - ironicly I dont get my pass till the year 2026)
 
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34D

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The passes are not valid on national express - unless its registered as a local service

The long distance coaches bit changed a couple of years ago, and the wording is (along the lines of) not applicable on the (local registered bit of) long distance coaches where over half the seats are reservable in advance.
 

neilmc

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The long distance coaches bit changed a couple of years ago, and the wording is (along the lines of) not applicable on the (local registered bit of) long distance coaches where over half the seats are reservable in advance.

Indeed. For example, Crowden in Derbyshire is now effectively isolated and unavailable to free bus pass holders since the only service is the National Express 350 (a long-distance coach service with a few stops across the Pennines). Unless anyone knows different?

Derbyshire Council, who are otherwise quite good at publicising their public transport, don't even seem to realise this, maybe because this small section is effectively wedged between Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire.
 
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Freedom passes issued by London councils are also good for tube and DLR travel - I know this because my fishing pal has a Bromley issued one but my Surrey issued one doesn't.
 

Deerfold

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Freedom passes issued by London councils are also good for tube and DLR travel - I know this because my fishing pal has a Bromley issued one but my Surrey issued one doesn't.

And National rail within the zones - but with differing times.
 

Wolfie

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Let's try and make some sense of this

The law demands that each local council issues to its residents who have reached the required age a pass which allows them to travel on registered local bus services free of charge any where within Britain between the hours of 930- 2300 Mon-Fri and all day Sat / Sun & Bank Holidays .


Other pass schemes work in Scotland & Wales and Northern Ireland.

Operators must accept local passes And ANY other pass issued by any council the local Council (or PTE's or county or TFL depending on area) will then reimburse the operator for the journey.

The disabled pass is available to any one who who as certain conditions or who is unable to obtain or as lost their driving licence due to a medical problem which prohibits them from having a licence - this does NOT incude certain drug or alchol related conditioins. Epilepsy is one of the conditions that allow people to get a pass unfortunatley this is not publiced very well and is not well know about.

Councils may extend the "free" travel to include earlier or latter times and may include other forms of transport : tram/ train/ ferry / cable cars etc.

The passes are not valid on national express - unless its registered as a local service - or on tourist services including those that include admission to a venue as part of the ticket. Where a council extends the service it is up to the council to decide if it allows people from outside the area to take part in the extended benifitts.

As mentioned above there is also a "disabled" pass this allows travel all day and in some areas a "helper " pass is also issued to them, however some areas do not accept the "helper " pass from other areas.

I assume that the open top service is no registered as a local service or is a tourist service.



I have looked on the IOW website which isnt very usefull

http://www.iow.gov.uk/council/departments/engineering_services/transport_fleet/Public_Transport/

Looking at the local bus operators site (southern vectis) the open top service is advertised as a tour so therefore the passes arnt valid - however , from the information above it appears that the local council allows there passes to be used.

http://www.islandbuses.info/otdowns.shtml

Details of disabled passes (taken from the site below)

Who is eligible for a disabled person's bus pass

You're eligible for a disabled person's pass if you live in England and are 'eligible disabled'. This means you:

are blind or partially sighted

are profoundly or severely deaf

are without speech

have a disability, or have suffered an injury, which has a substantial and long-term effect on your ability to walk
don’t have arms or have long-term loss of the use of both arms

have a learning disability

You're also eligible disabled if your application for a driving licence would be refused under section 92 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (physical fitness). However, you won't be eligible if you were refused because of persistent misuse of drugs or alcohol.

Full details
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelA.../DG_10036264?CID=TAT&PLA=url_mon&CRE=bus_pass


hope the above information helps


(On a lighter note before this came into place as a planning exercise I sat down and worked out you can get from where I live in sheffield to London in 13 hours using 14 trains - ironicly I dont get my pass till the year 2026)

my bold

Believe that should be England for the reason you give in the next para ie N Ireland, Wales and Scotland all have their own schemes.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Forgot to thank you for the very useful consolidation - sorry about the small nit-pick!
 

caliwag

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I know that York is 9.00am btw.

You can also use the pass on the excellent Coastliner buses Leeds?York to Pickering/Whitby etc. The buses are therefore pretty busy.

A driver told me that the LA pays 75p for each over 60...don't know how true that is.
 

starrymarkb

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Indeed. For example, Crowden in Derbyshire is now effectively isolated and unavailable to free bus pass holders since the only service is the National Express 350 (a long-distance coach service with a few stops across the Pennines). Unless anyone knows different?

Derbyshire Council, who are otherwise quite good at publicising their public transport, don't even seem to realise this, maybe because this small section is effectively wedged between Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire.

There are a lot of places that are unavailable to passholders on account of there being no buses. Is there anything at Crowden to serve? AIUI there is just a farm and Walkers Hostel.

If an arrangement is made with NatEx to take the pass, it might only be to Sheffield or Manchester and not both ways (much as the Oxford Tube coach accepts passes from Lewknor but only to Oxford not to London
 

Mr Spock

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(On a lighter note before this came into place as a planning exercise I sat down and worked out you can get from where I live in sheffield to London in 13 hours using 14 trains - ironicly I dont get my pass till the year 2026)

I assume that you mean 14 buses and not trains?
 

tom1649

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I have to pay £5.50 return on a bus for which 11 years ago the same fare was £2.50. Then I find that often most of the seats are taken up by free pass-holders with very little room left for the paying passenger!
 

dggar

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I have to pay £5.50 return on a bus for which 11 years ago the same fare was £2.50. Then I find that often most of the seats are taken up by free pass-holders with very little room left for the paying passenger!

How do you find out the fare status of the other people on the bus?
 
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