FEARS GROW OVER FREE BUS PASSES BURDEN
From The Herald Express
BY TINA CROWSON AND GLENN PRICE
30 May 2008
Torbay Council fears it could be facing a financial crisis as more pensioners are taking to the buses.The numbers of over 60s taking advantage of the national free bus pass scheme is rising at an alarming rate.Deputy mayor Kevin Carroll, pictured, fears the extra numbers will hit the council's already cash-strapped budget even harder.Torbay Council already has to find £3million to fund the scheme this year.
But the authority has reported a jump of 1,500 in the number of passes issued to the over 60s in the last two months alone on top of the 27,500 issued in April.This could leave the authority picking up a larger than anticipated bill for over 60s passengers.Mr Carroll said: "At the beginning of April we had issued 27,500 bus passes, but in the past two months that has gone up to 29,000."In total some 38,000 pensioners in Torbay are eligible for passes and if they all took them up I don't know what we would do."It is already a massive burden for the council tax payer."Our budget for bus passes is currently £3.98million, towards which the government gives us just under £1million."We don't yet know how much the extra passes are going to cost us in extra journeys. It's a real worry.
"We worry about if the increase in people carries on, we could be storing up a terrible financial problem."If the situation gets too bad, we will have to go to the Government and say 'you pay it'."It's a stealth tax. Why should the people of Torbay pick up the bill? It's impossible to budget for."South Devon councils pay an agreed rate per pensioner per journey to Stagecoach.Journeys are billed to the authority where each one starts.But if more and more over 60s are taking to the buses to travel, authorities could be facing a much larger bill than anticipated.
South Devon councils and Stagecoach are already creaking under the strain.Stagecoach say the extra bill could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds for Torbay Council alone.Bus drivers record all the journeys taken using the bus passes and then the 'bill' is passed on to the relevant local authorities.Each journey is billed per person not for how far they travel.The cost is passed on to each council, either on a monthly or quarterly basis and is a rate which has been agreed on an annual basis.
There is no option to raise the price paid by authorities for concessionary fare passengers.Stagecoach says it is not receiving sufficient money to pay for the journeys.However, the rate is agreed on an annual basis, worked out as a percentage of an average journey by an adult.And Torbay, Teignbridge and the South Hams will also have to pick up the tab this summer for holidaymakers with passes from other areas who are now able to use them on local buses.
The issue, described by Mayor Nick Bye as a 'huge sword of Damocles', will be raised with South West Government minister Ben Bradshaw when he visits the resort next month.Mr Carroll added: "Any journey originating in Torbay we have to pay for."With diesel reaching nearly £1.30 a litre, you can understand when people decide to use the bus, especially with other prices going up."
Operations director for Stagecoach Devon, Richard Stevens, said they were expecting the numbers to increase above predictions, and the cost."It's not just a question of the additional bus users from Torbay, but those who will use the bus while on holiday in Torbay. I wouldn't be surprised if the extra cost above budget for Torbay could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds."
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As usual, Government are not providing enough money to run the scheme. I am sure not enough thought was given to the whole idea in the first place and we will end up paying in the end.
6 comments:
I'm all for a discount for pensioners -- everyone knows that state pension is non existent and that many private pension schemes are being reformed.
However, I do not agree with free travel, specifically for the reasons above.
When travel is free, there will be a huge surge in traveller numbers which the billpayer will have trouble paying.
If there is a discount, or subsidy, passengers receive the lower tariff they deserve without creating infrastructural difficulties we are currently witnessing.
Additionally, I think bus passes should be restricted to region. If you are on holiday, your travelling costs are part of your holiday. Fair enough the taxpayer helping those who have trouble in paying for travel...but to subsidize their holiday? I don't think that's morally sound.
Stagecoach are in a vice about this. They did not choose to give free travel to pensioners, and they cannot unfairly increase prices. The office of fair trading would have a field day.
Personally, I feel that there should be a nominal fee for travellers over 60. Say, £1? When the passenger leaves the region, that should increase to £2. I think that would be a far fairer system for everybody.
Actually I think a lot of companies saw this coming too. This was a vote enticer from Labour, pure and simple. The only people that will suffer will be the public through lack of services. This lack of services will come about because councils will not be able to afford to pay for securing late night / Sunday services and the bus company will not run them at a loss so no more buses. I actually believe that OAP's or seniors or whatever they maybe called in UK should pay a fare. Every little helps. Here in HK ALL seniors pay half the adult fare, irrespective of distance. There is a special fare of HK$2 per single journey on Sundays, no other reductions. Just some thoughts.
Do the Isle of Wight method. Don't pay the operator (Southern Vectis) enough money - the council are OK, the bus company £1 million short!!
Fares go up, I spend £12 on buses the other day!!! :o
Oh, they gave it plenty of thought alright. Only the over 60s are bothering to vote. It's called electoral bribery. Everyone else has given up bothering as they know that you just get enough bunch of corrupt tossers whoever you vote for in Britain (that's why the Welsh & Scots want out of course). Still, won't be long now before before labour are out , ready to be replaced by a bunch of Tory tossers on the take.
In Wales and Scotland, the schemes are truly universal, with not only travel conditions, but eligibility and operator reimbursement identical across the board...
How drivers are supposed to know the differing conditions applying within/across each District Council boundary in England, God alone knows...
It's almost as if Blair/Brown deliberately screwed up the English Scheme through lack of direction, lack of funding and misdirection of funding...
Clearly the English are third class citizens...
In the Welsh scheme, I believe the reimbursement rate for concessionary travel is 72p in the pound and in Scotland its 67p. In my area of Middle-England, we're averaging just under 30p...pathetic...
Bus Companies are also supposed to be reimbursed for any extraordinary extra costs they incur (extra buses and staff for example) - So far, my compoany's had nothing at all for a dozen extra vehicles and twenty five extra staff from 2006 onwards...
There is no incentive, therefore, to add extra capacity to accomodate the extra passengers...and in a number of cases, freewheeling OAPs are crowding paying customers off the buses...a double whammy...
Watch out for your jobs chaps, because Incapability Brown clearly won't! Incompetent and uncaring is what NuLabour is all about...And how bloody ironic that, of all people, the Tories may now solely represent the voice of justice in this country...
So in fact, the poster in the previous entry saying thankyou to the people of Devon for taking the bus, and "Doing it for Devon", is actually a very good use of the art of sarcasm!!
Thank you VERY much, Devon!
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