Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly today unveiled the new pass that will give older and disabled people free off-peak bus travel across England from 1st April, 2008.

Currently, people aged 60 and over and eligible disabled people are entitled to free off-peak bus travel within their own local authority area. But from April 2008 the Government will invest up to an extra £250m each year to extend the scheme to include off-peak local bus travel anywhere in England.

The new passes will also incorporate ITSO 'smartcard' technology to boost the roll out of 'smart ticketing'. This will help minimise fraud and ensure that the number of journeys made by pass-holders are accurately recorded for reimbursement purposes between local authorities and bus operators. In areas where buses are not yet fitted with smartcard readers the cards can still be shown to the driver as a traditional 'flash' card upon boarding.

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly said:

"We have already seen how popular concessionary fares are. Bus use in England rose by 4% in the year after we introduced free, off-peak local travel. Now we are extending their entitlement, millions of older and disabled people will be able to use their passes while visiting friends and family anywhere in England as well as to access local services."

"We hope that allowing eligible passengers to use their passes across local boundaries will continue to encourage even more people to get the most from the bus services available across the country."

"By introducing smartcard technology from the outset we are paving the way for full smart ticketing across the country. This would speed up boarding, cut fraud and open up the possibility of using the same pass to access a range of other local services such as libraries and leisure facilities."

Commenting on the scheme, Alan Burnett, senior policy officer at Help the Aged, said:

"Millions of older and disabled people rely on local bus services. From April, they will be able to save money when they cross local boundaries or visit friends and family in other parts of England."

The Passenger Transport Executive Group (PTEG) welcomed the decision to make the pass a smartcard. Neil Scales, director general of Merseytravel and PTEG spokesman on smartcards, said:

"Smartcard ticketing offers the prospect of greater convenience for passengers and lower administration costs for local authorities, operators and ultimately the taxpayer. "

"We look forward to working with the DfT and with bus operators to realise the full potential of the national concessionary smartcard-as a
precursor to much wider application of public transport smartcards in
the years to come."

Steven Salmon, director of policy development at the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, said:

"Operators will be ready to welcome pass-holders from all over England from 1 April. The Government's decision to make the passes 'smart' could help authorities and operators to offer fast, friendly and efficient services for everyone."

I live near the welsh border. Will I be able to use my English pass in Wales?

From the currently released information, they say "anywhere in England", but as this isn't due until April next year, we will probably see some clarification.

Initial contact has been made already, as the following states:

"Concessionary travel is a devolved policy area. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland already operate their own schemes. The Concessionary Bus Travel Act 2007 includes a power to allow, via regulations in the future, for mutual recognition of concessionary bus passes across the UK, and the Government had initial discussions with the devolved administrations about the inclusion of this power last year."

So I guess it'll probably happen with the help of some Government money shifting between the devolved powers in the background.

I understand there will be free travel in England for over sixty year olds as from the 1st April 2008.
Will this include travelling on London Underground as I used to get before I moved away from the GLC.?

At the moemnt, it **should** do. London OAPs currently have a Freedom Pass which works on all bus, train and tubes in London. I guess we will have to wait and see as the details of the scheme are released.

At present we in Merseyside can use trains within our area. We can travel from Lime Street Station on a Manchester bound train but only as far as Widnes.From the 1st April 2008 can we travel further free?

I think we need to wait for the detail to come out. Each area seems to have slightlky different rules on what transport is allowable for a bus pass. You have some trains, London has all zones travel etc.

The easiest way to manage the new passes will be to merege everything. It'll be a management nightmare if they allow some people to use the trains but not others! Cheaper and easier to let everyone use them!

govt. should extend this facility to train travel as well as most off peak trains are half empty

About the free bus pass in april 2008 all over england will this include scotland wales and ireland

This service should be extended to trains some of Disabled may not be able to travel by bus or coach, I cannot as I have spinal injuries and in neack