15.The national concession applies across England, but the Act deals separately with journeys beginning outside the London bus network and those beginning on the London bus network. This is because non-London and London services are subject to different legislative and administrative arrangements (see paragraph 5 above). Sections 1 to 3 deal with journeys not beginning on the London bus network.
16.Section 1 replaces section 145 of the 2000 Act with a new section 145A establishing the new national concession in England on ‘eligible journeys’ (i.e. single bus trips between places in England which begin at the relevant times and which do not begin on the London bus network)(3). The new section 145A removes the restriction that a journey must be within a person’s local authority area in England for the concession to be available to them. This is done by providing that any England resident pass holder can receive the concession on ‘eligible journeys’ on eligible bus services(4). Since the 2000 Act concession is now available anywhere in England, rather than only within local authority areas outside London, it is available for the first time on eligible commercial services (i.e. London service permit services) in Greater London.
17.The arrangements for concessionary travel in Wales that were formerly included in section 145 of the 2000 Act have been re-stated in Schedule 2 as new section 145B of that Act.
18.New wording at section 145A(4) of the 2000 Act secures that travel concession authorities in England (other than in London) must issue permits to older or disabled persons ‘whose sole or principal residence’ is in the travel concession authority’s area. The Secretary of State is also given a power to issue guidance to travel concession authorities as to how they should interpret ‘sole or principal residence’. This is intended to promote the adoption of a consistent approach. London residents receive passes under the London arrangements set out in the 1999 Act. Under new section 145A those passes become valid outside London (see paragraph 20 below).
19.There is also a power at new section 145A(5) for the Secretary of State to make regulations as to what a permit issued by a non-London travel concession authority must look like. This is so that the appearance of cards across the country can be standardised in an agreed form that is easily recognised by bus drivers. As before, a person can choose to give up the national concession in exchange for other concessionary travel benefits offered by their local authority under discretionary travel concession schemes administered under section 93 of the 1985 Act.
20.Travel concession authorities under sections 145 to 150 of the 2000 Act are responsible for issuing passes to their residents, reimbursing operators providing the national concession, and enforcement of the national concession. Prior to the Act, with respect to England they were defined in section 146 of the 2000 Act as non-metropolitan district councils, county councils (so far as there is no district council for the area), and Passenger Transport Executives for passenger transport areas. Section 2 of the Act amends this definition of ‘travel concession authority,’ adding ‘London authority’ (London borough councils and the Common Council of the City of London) and the Council of the Isles of Scilly. This means that London authorities need to reimburse the operators of London service permit services for their provision of the national concession on ‘eligible services’ (see paragraph 5 above). London authorities will not issue permits under the 2000 Act, as permits issued to London residents under the 1999 Act will be used by London residents to access the national concession outside London (see new section 145A(3)). Although there are currently no eligible services on the Isles of Scilly, making the Council of the Isles of Scilly a travel concession authority enables residents to obtain a national concession pass to use on the mainland (see section 145A(4)).
21.This section makes provision for operators providing the national concession to England residents to be reimbursed by the travel concession authority for the area in which the journey began. This replaces the previous requirement for English travel concession authorities to reimburse operators only for journeys made wholly in their area by concessionaires resident in their area. The previous reimbursement provisions in respect of the Welsh concession are restated with no substantive change.
22.This section also changes the deadline by which bus operators may appeal against reimbursement arrangements regarding their provision of the national concession, under section 150(3) of the 2000 Act. Subsections (4) to (6) amend section 150(4) of the 2000 Act and add a new section 150(4A) to secure that the deadline for lodging such appeals in respect of reimbursement arrangements determined by English travel concession authorities is extended from 28 days to 56 days. The current arrangements in respect of appeals against reimbursement arrangements set by Welsh authorities are restated with no substantive change.
This includes journeys which begin outside Greater London and end inside Greater London on the London bus network. The ‘London bus network’ is defined in the 1999 Act broadly to mean certain local services procured by Transport for London to the extent that they are within Greater London. Some services procured to make up the London bus network do, in fact, cross over the Greater London border into surrounding areas. Because journeys on these cross border services which begin outside Greater London but end in Greater London on the London bus network are covered by the provisions of the new section 145A, concessions on them are funded by the travel concession authority in whose area the journey begins (consistent with the rest of the country).
Concessions on journeys on the London bus network and those which begin on the network and end outside Greater London are provided for under the 1999 Act, as amended, and so will be funded by London authorities (in accordance with the general principle that the national concession is funded by the local authority in whose area the relevant journey begins).