Rethink on bus passes

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 1st Apr 2008

A decision to cut half an hour from a bus pass start time in Reigate and Banstead has been reversed.The borough council has announced that over-60s will no longer have to wait until 9.30am for free country-wide bus travel from next Tuesday. The change of mind will cost around £30,000.

Bus passes for free travel within Surrey can now be used from 9am but the Government had only provided enough funding for the new national passes to be used from 9.30am.To keep its start time of 9am the council would have had to pay for the extra half-hour.

Surrey district and borough councils had agreed to adopt the Government-funded travel times of 9.30am to 11pm. But three weeks ago Life reported that Mole Valley District Council had changed its mind. It would pay to keep its older residents' free bus travel from 9am. Reigate and Banstead insisted it would not.

Then Transport For London (TFL) said it would accept Surrey passes from 9am and the council changed its mind. Council leader Lynne Hack said: "TFL's decision to accept Surrey passes on routes from 9am meant that there would be a two-tier scheme operating in Surrey, with some schemes starting at 9am and others at 9.30am. The council believes that the same scheme should be available to all Surrey residents using TFL bus services and that Reigate and Banstead residents should not be disadvantaged. A consistent scheme is also easier for residents to understand and use. The government is only funding the scheme from 9.30am so the additional costs of running the scheme from 9.00am will have to be met by the Council, and ultimately council tax payers."

The Council estimates the additional cost to be in the region of £30,000

The council will re-issue leaflets describing the change to residents but luckily the 14,500 passes it had already produced will not need re-printing as they did not have start times on them. More than 16,000 people will be entitled to the passes this month. The council will give its disabled residents free 24-hour travel.