Summary and Background
Note on abbreviations
3.In these notes—
‘the 1985 Act’ means the Transport Act 1985;
‘the 1999 Act’ means the Greater London Authority Act 1999;
‘the 2000 Act’ means the Transport Act 2000.
Summary
4.The Act implements the Government’s announcement in the 2006 Budget that England residents aged 60 and over, and disabled England residents, will get free off-peak travel on all local buses anywhere in England.
Background
5.Mandatory bus travel concessions for England residents are provided on ‘eligible services’(1) outside Greater London under sections 145 to 150 of the 2000 Act; and in Greater London under sections 240 to 244 of, and Schedule 16 to, the 1999 Act. Under the 2000 Act provisions, and prior to amendment by the Act, concessions were provided only in the area of the travel concession authority where the person resided(2). Under the 1999 Act provisions, concessions throughout the ‘London bus network’ had to be provided to all eligible London residents. The ‘London bus network’ is the network of bus services procured by Transport for London. The only other local bus services which can be run in London are services under ‘London service permits’ issued by Transport for London. London service permit operators were not obliged to offer a concession.
6.The Act changes both the 2000 Act and the 1999 Act so that the free bus travel concession is available not just in the area local to a pass holder’s residence, but also on local bus travel anywhere in England, including on the London bus network and on London service permit services which fall within the definition of ‘eligible services’.
7.The Act guarantees free local bus travel, for those eligible, from 9:30am until 11pm on weekdays and all day on weekends and bank holidays, anywhere in England (‘the national concession’). In addition, the Secretary of State is given a power to streamline the mechanisms for administering the national concession and reimbursing bus operators. Reimbursement could be streamlined by changing which tier of local authority is responsible for reimbursement in an administrative area, or by having the Secretary of State carry out reimbursement centrally. The Act also allows the Secretary of State to streamline the administration of discretionary travel concession schemes (made by local authorities under section 93 of the 1985 Act). It also extends the period of time during which appeals can be made by bus operators in respect of new or varied reimbursement arrangements made by English authorities under the 2000 Act (and makes a similar change in relation to appeals against notices given by English authorities requiring operators to participate in schemes under section 93 of the 1985 Act).
8.The Act allows the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers to make changes to the legislation applying in England and Wales respectively to facilitate mutual recognition across the United Kingdom of passes issued under the English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish national concessionary schemes. Flexibility for the English and Welsh administrations to vary the scope of the statutory concession available in their respective territories is retained.
9.Local authorities retain the discretion to offer their residents other travel concessions as well as or, in some cases (if the concessionaire agrees), instead of the national concession. Such voluntary concessions might include concessionary travel before 9:30am on weekdays, tokens for taxis, concessions on other modes of transport such as trams, or travel on routes across national boundaries.
‘Eligible services’ are as specified in orders made under section 146 of the 2000 Act. Current orders (in respect of England and Wales) specify broadly that eligible services in England and Wales are ‘local services’ provided by local education authorities, or for older persons or disabled persons, on buses. A minimum proportion of the seats must be available to the public for the service to be an ‘eligible service’ and there are other criteria designed to ensure that, for a service to be an ‘eligible service’, it must be accessible to the public for local travel. The term ‘local service’ is defined in section 2 of the 1985 Act, broadly to encompass buses carrying passengers at separate fares locally, other than on private trips.
Travel concession authorities are defined in section 146 of the 2000 Act. Prior to the Act, English travel concession authorities were non-metropolitan district councils, county councils for areas where there are no district councils, and Passenger Transport Executives for passenger transport areas. This definition included unitary authorities, which are either county councils (to which district council functions have been transferred) or district councils (to which county council functions have been transferred). The Act has expanded this definition to include ‘London authorities’ and the Council of the Isles of Scilly (see section 2).
