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CONCESSIONARY
FARES – NOT GOOD ENOUGH
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| Help the Aged spells out why |
As from
April this year, 1.5 million men over 60 years
of age in England, Scotland and Wales are entitled to reduced fares on public transport,
bringing them into line with women. Sounds good, until you examine the small print and
find you are in a postcode lottery. For
example:
Residents of
Basildon, Essex, have to pay £100 for a travel pass.
In
Plymouth you have to be over 80 years of age to qualify for a full free travel pass.
In
Christchurch, Dorset, older people find their half fare travel passes invalid if they want
to go shopping just a few miles away in neighbouring Bournemouth.
While people over the age of 60 in Scotland and Wales
have free travel passes, in England just 20 per cent of older people enjoy free travel:
for the remainder it depends on where you live. This patchwork of schemes across England
often leads to additional charges when crossing administrative boundaries, thereby further
devaluing the concessions.
In rural
areas bus services are often inadequate and unreliable. Train arrival times do not
necessarily coincide with bus timetables, so that long waits may be necessary. In cities, while more frequent and accessible
public transport may be available, there can be additional problems such as a lack of
safety and security.
Buses are
often poorly designed with steps that are too high for some older people to climb. Many
bus stops do not have seats or shelter from the weather, leaving some older people feeling
vulnerable when waiting for a bus.
Help
the Aged is calling for:
a national
scheme of free travel passes for England and Scotland, and an integrated public transport
system for Wales
local
boundary restrictions to be abolished
local
authorities to take greater responsibility in telling the public about the availability of
travel concessions
Facts
about travel
Public
transport is a lifeline for around seven million older people who don’t drive.
Poor services
on many networks, coupled with the fact that many older people are not aware of their
entitlement, makes public transport both impractical and costly.
In the last
eight years, the number of older people using concessionary travel passes has fallen.
The least
likely age group to use a travel pass are people over 75, those living in rural areas or
people from ethnic minority communities. A recent survey in the West Midlands found that
many Asian elders were not even aware of their entitlement and regularly paid to travel.
Free travel
is available to people over 60 in London, West Midlands, Merseyside, Nottingham, Reading,
East Staffordshire and Crawley.
Free travel
is available to people over 60 in London, West Midlands, Merseyside, Nottingham, Reading,
East Staffordshire and Crawley.
Ninety-four
per cent of local authorities offer a half fare concessionary scheme. The remainder have
flat fare schemes or free travel.
________________________________________________________________________
Join Help The Aged campaign to scrap age discrimination!
Find out more at www.helptheaged.org.uk
To report examples on non-integrated public transport contact Help the Aged E-Mail: info@helptheaged.org.uk
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