Bus Pass Scheme Needs Proper Funding

The Government announced in the 2005 budget of the proposed introduction of a free off peak concessionary bus fare scheme from April 2006.

"This scheme would allow everyone over 60 years and registered disabled people completely free travel on buses within their own district from 9.30am to 11.00 pm daily, which although is time restricted may offer a greater number of people free travel.

But I am concerned that the Government has yet to produce guidelines on how the scheme is to be administered or give details of how the £350M identified for the scheme will be distributed among the local authorities. I do not want this to be an extra burden on local authorities particularly since the expansion of the taxi voucher scheme, which also led to an increase in uptake. This proved so expensive the council rapidly cut back the value of the vouchers available to residents who were entitled to them.

I and other Herts MPs are concerned that the total sum of £350M will be insufficient to cater for what will be the cost of a substantial increase in take up and usage of the passes. It could mean that to deliver this 'free' travel the local authority may have to dig in into its budget to fund it if the Government doesn't fund this correctly. We are concerned that these will mean that the area will be left with a significant funding cost.

Current schemes such a those enjoyed by the residents of Hertfordshire offers free passes with half fare travel at any time. In many parts of Hertfordshire there is no one dominant town and so it makes no sense to restrict these new passes to one district. If the Government wants to deliver nationally available free local travel restricting travel to an arbitrary boundary may not make as much sense, particularly when there are plans to for example build a new hospital at Hatfield which St Albans residents would want to use.

I along with other Hertfordshire MPs are calling on the Government to reconsider this scheme, including the level of grant increase and that the amount allocated to each district be specifically identified to clarify the reasons for changes in any Council Tax calculations. This is why I proposed this EDM.""