Gisela Stuart MPWorking hard for Bartley Green, Edgbaston, Harborne and Quinton

Threat to Free Bus Travel for Older People // February 23rd, 2012 // Constituency News

Free bus travel for older people is under threat from David Cameron and Nick Clegg. The Lib Dems are seeking means-testing of free bus passes and Tory councils have asked the government for permission to restrict entitlement.

Despite David Cameron’s general election pledge, the Tory-led government has cut funding for concessionary bus passes, overseen the loss of one in five supported bus services and axed concessionary coach travel, affecting millions of pensioners and disabled people up and down the country.

Labour will defend free bus travel for older people as a universal benefit to which all those who have reached the state pension age should be entitled, rather than introduce a costly system of means-testing which would undermine the scheme.

Gisela said:

“Free bus passes are a universal benefit to which all older people who reach the state pension age should be entitled, something they have earned after a lifetime of work and paying into the system.”

Introducing a whole bureaucratic system of means-testing could well cost more than it would save by requiring a costly assessment of applications for bus passes.  As the scheme is funded according to the journeys made, not the number of pensioners with a pass, it is highly unlikely that means-testing would lead to savings.

Nick Clegg and the LibDems would do better ensuring that pensioners have a bus service on which to use their pass.

The deficit does need to be brought down which is why Labour is not opposing the majority of cuts that the government is making to the transport budget, including cuts to the roads budget, local transport schemes and Crossrail in London.  However, introducing a costly system of means-testing would be unlikely to make the concessionary fares scheme any more affordable.

Labour’s policy review is looking at how to extend to the rest of England the arrangements for bus services enjoyed in London.  This would open up the potential to protect services, keep fares down but also introduce the sort of smart ticketing - like London’s Oyster card - that makes such a difference in the capital.  Labour has also said that, in return for the subsidies received by bus companies, they should work with the government to deliver a concessionary fares scheme for young people aged 16-18 in education or training, as exists in London.

Gisela Stuart will oppose the speed and scale of these cuts, and stand up for vital local bus services and defend the much valued concessionary fares scheme for older people. We are clear that this should continue to be available to all those reaching the state pension age without any form of means-testing.

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