Free bus pass age could rise as government seeks new direction
Despite putting in £220m every year, the Welsh Government has admitted bus services aren’t good enough. Social affairs correspondent Ruth Mosalski reports
OLDER people won’t be entitled to a free bus until they hit pensionable age under proposals put out for discussion by the Welsh Government.
People in Wales can travel for free on buses with a Welsh Government pass from the age of 60 under the current publicly-funded scheme.
Increasing that to the state pension age, which is currently 65 for men and will hit 66 for both men and women next year, is one of the Welsh Government’s proposals for reforming the system.
There are around 33.5m journeys on free bus passes given to people aged over 60 every year in Wales.
Officials say the Welsh taxpayer puts in £220m into bus services every year but that the service still isn’t good enough.
The number of bus users is declining and they say to get people out of their cars and improve the public transport system, something has to happen.
They say despite that “considerable funding we are not achieving the service we want to see and communities do not have the public transport connectivity that they need”.
The ideas include:
■ Increasing the age at which people get their free bus pass to save money;
■ setting up joint transport authorities to improve standards;
■ requiring councils and bus operators to work together to deliver on targets, bus usage and connectivity;
■ councils running buses directly; and
■ better up-to-date information for passengers.
Changes have also been proposed for taxis, including:
■ Creating national standards for taxi and private hire licensing; and
■ Allowing councils to revoke or suspend a licence if rules are broken in their authority (rather than just by the authority where the licence was issued).
The Welsh Government’s White Paper “Improving public transport” has been released and is open for people to give their feedback to until March 27.
“If we don’t take action, services and passenger numbers will continue to decline, which will prevent us from realising our ambitions for an integrated transport system,” the paper reads.
However, it admits that legislation alone cannot reverse the downward trend.
■ Changing the age people get a free bus pass
The Welsh Government was the first government in the United Kingdom to introduce universal free bus travel for older and disabled people.
Whilst the overall number of bus passengers carried in Wales is in decline, the number of mandatory concessionary passengers – which includes the disabled and army veterans as well as older people – is going up.
Currently, mandatory concessionary fares bus pass holders represent around 47% of total bus journeys.
There are currently around 730,000 passes in circulation but by 2021 that will be 880,000 and over a million by 2030.
The formula used to reimburse operators is based on the adult single fare, which does not incentivise operators to keep these fares low.
Bus passes in Wales are available to people over 60 unlike in England where the age has risen with the state pension age.
■ The suggestion...
It is proposed to increase the age of entitlement to a concessionary pass to align with a woman’s pensionable age in incremental increases.
The state pension age is currently 65 for women with further rises planned.
But bus pass holders will still be able to catch any bus at any time in Wales with no charge and anyone who holds a concessionary pass at the time any changes to the law are made will keep their pass.
■ New transport authorities
Councils are responsible for ensuring the public receive required bus services they need but with falling budgets, the amount spent has dropped.
“The skills and knowledge” needed to ensure bus services are run correctly are also “diminishing”.
The paper adds that councils carry out many support tasks individually which is “inefficient”.
■ The suggestion...
Joint transport authorities would pool functions and powers of two or more councils to ease pressure on councils, and allow a chance for “standardised and improved bus quality standards”.
They would have oversight of network planing and standardise contracts, quality standards and managing the long bus routes.
There are two options, one authority for all of Wales with regional boards, or four authorities, one national and three regional.
Welsh Ministers would sit on the authority.
■ New powers for councils Currently, there are formal agreements between councils and bus operators where councils provide things like bus lanes and shelters.
Those so-called “quality partnership schemes” can also cover vehicle standards, timetabling and fares.
However, there are only limited such-schemes in Wales.
■ The suggestion...
A new enhanced quality partnership would require councils and operators to work together. Councils would have to review the network and draw up a plan to look at improvements that are needed.
■ Franchises and councils running services
The current scheme for franchising is “overly complex and resource intensive”, according to the White Paper.
Currently, the Transport Act 1985 prohibits local authorities from running their own bus companies unless a council was already operating the route, it was only a small operation or a bus operator failed to run a service and the council has had to step in.
■ The suggestion...
Councils would be able to look at franchising services – so a council could award the exclusive right to run a bus route or routes to the most competitive bidder.
There would have to be public scrutiny but the overall scheme would be “less prescriptive” than the current models. The exclusions under the Transport Act do not work when very few, or no tenders, are available.
Councils could be allowed to run arms-length services or “giving local authorities power to run local bus services has the potential to reduce the level of public funding required for a service”.