Be in driving seat to discuss free travel
Free bus travel offers older people, and those with disabilities, freedom to travel across Scotland without worrying about cost.
And the Scottish Government has launched a new consultation on free bus travel to ensure the long-term sustainability of the scheme that pays for 145 million bus journeys a year.
Free travel for seniors and those with disabilities means that errands, appointments and a social life becomes far more manageable and stress-free, at a time in life when those links and services perhaps become more vital, and those on fixed incomes would feel the benefit of free travel.
There is a commitment from the Scottish Government that any changes to the scheme will not take bus passes from those who have them currently, and that it won’t have a negative impact on those with disabilities who qualify either.
In short, if you have a bus pass currently, you will not lose it.
In the consultation, opinion is also being sought for a potential new development that could benefit young modern apprentices too.
It’s being proposed that modern apprentices up to the age of 21 could also get free bus travel, and this is not dependant on making changes to the scheme for older people or those with disabilities.
In The Free Bus Travel scheme, fares are paid to the bus companies by the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government has negotiations with the varied transport companies and gets a good deal on fare costs.
Currently the government gets each fare at just over half price, and each pass holder gets the journey free at the point of use.
This represents great value for the taxpayer and the government, and – as just under a third of all bus journeys in Scotland are paid for by the scheme – this is great news for bus companies too.
When the scheme started, around 900,000 people were signed up, and this has steadily increased to the current number of 1.3 million card holders, with 167,000 of those meeting at least one of the disability criteria to be eligible for a pass, and 120,000 of those with a disability eligible to take a companion on the bus for free too.
The scheme has provided 1,640 million journeys over the past decade, and is currently paying for roughly 145 million journeys per year.
However, as we are all living longer every year 70,000 people reach the age of 60 and become entitled for the free bus pass.
This is putting increased pressure on the system to pay for the millions of journeys a year that are covered by the scheme, with some £190 million pounds spent to meet this demand every year.
In order to maintain this service, and ensure that free travel can be maintained for older people and those with disabilities, the Scottish Government is running the consultation to learn the public’s opinion about how best to run the scheme in the future.
The Scottish Government is committed to providing access to free travel for older people, and people with disabilities, and so it is considering a few options to maintain this – including potentially increasing the age of entitlement to bring it in line with the state pension age. If you would like to learn more about the full range of options that are being considered – and read why others have been rejected – you can do so by downloading a copy of the consultation document which is available at https://consult. scotland.gov.uk.
You can also take part in the consultation on the website, adding your voice to the process that will decide how we can protect this service for the future.
As this is an issue that we will all be affected by in the future, putting forward your thoughts will mean that the right decision is made for the majority of people in Scotland.
Some £190 million is spent to meet free travel demand every year