Success For Bus Pass Scheme (North Bedfordshire Liberal Democrats)

North Bedfordshire Liberal Democrats <bedford@bedfordlibdems.org>

Success For Bus Pass Scheme

January 31, 2006 4:53 PM

Michael Headley Has Welcomed The Removal Of Travel Restrictions To The Free Bus Travel Scheme

The Mayors U-turn over pensioners concessionary fares has been welcomed by Liberal Democrats.

Following pressure from Liberal Democrats and local pensioners groups the Mayor has reversed his decision to restrict pensioners and disabled people's use of the concessionary bus fare scheme. Under his original plans pensioners and disabled people would have been prevented from using their passes before 9:30 or beyond the borough boundaries. Similar concessionary schemes within Mid and South Beds promised schemes free from such restrictions following initial calculations over the amount of money to be released by the government to fund the scheme. However Mayor Branston refused to accept the figures and maintained his decision to remove £130,000 from the concessionary fares budget, which threatened the affordability of the scheme.

Welcoming the U-turn, Lib Dem Group Leader Michael Headley said:

"It's great news that Mayor Branston has backtracked over his decision to restrict travel for bus pass holders in the Borough. We submitted a petition just last week calling for his decision to be overturned. This seems to have been the final push following months of concern for local pensioners."

"It was clear from the beginning that around £3/4 million would be made available by the government to fund the new scheme. From the start the Mayor wanted to take out £130,000 from the budget for concessionary fares. It's therefore surprising that the Mayor used funding issues as the excuse for imposing travel restrictions. He made this decision last year but planned to stick by the extra cuts despite the requirements of the new scheme. Only following the recent pressure has he reversed his intention to raid the bus pass budget, and only following this is he now putting forward an affordable scheme free from restriction.

The new decision allows pensioners and disabled people to travel beyond the borough boundary and without time limitations free of charge. This is a great victory in particular for those groups who put in a great deal of work to get the original decision reversed."

The new free travel scheme for bus pass holders will operate from April 1st 2006.

ENDS