Pensioners ask to pay for buses in bid to rescue rural services

Transport Minister Robert Goodwill, the MP for Scarborough and Whitby, revealed he has been asked by elderly people in his constituency if they can make “nominal payments” towards each bus journey they make, to help subsidise rural routes at risk of closure.

North Yorkshire County Council has been forced to slash spending on rural bus routes after seeing its overall budget cut dramatically by central Government since the austerity drive began in 2010, leading to rafts of routes closures and the end of many evening and weekend services.

Meanwhile all pensioners continue to qualify for free bus travel outside of peak hours under the Government’s national concessionary bus travel scheme.

Mr Goodwill told the Commons the matter had been raised with him by elderly constituents - but insisted it would not be practical to allow nominal payments due to the possible knock-on effects in other parts of the country.

“I recently attended a meeting of my own older people’s forum in Scarborough,” he told MPs.

“People said, ‘We’ve got these bus passes - but what’s the point if there’s no bus to use? We’d be prepared to pay a nominal charge to use some of these services, if we could retain them’.”

But the Minister went on: “However, that would require a fundamental change to the way the system works.

“It could be the thin end of the wedge, as services up and down the country — not just the ones that needed help to survive, but some of the more commercial ones — might also demand payment. It would change fundamentally the whole basis of the concessionary scheme.”

Free bus travel for pensioners was introduced by the last Labour Government and has been hugely popular among pensioners - though some councils have warned the scheme has left them badly out of pocket, with Whitehall failing to fully cover the costs of the concessionary scheme.

Pensioner benefits such as free bus passes and TV licences have come under increased scrutiny over recent months, with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg calling for wealthier older people to be forced to give them up.

Mr Goodwill, however, said introducing any form of means testing would prove too costly for the Government to introduce.

“As with other benefits, such as the free television licence and the winter fuel allowance, it would be prohibitively expensive to means-test people,” the Minister said.

“Also, if people had to apply for the pass, as with other means-tested pensioner benefits, we might find a much lower uptake.”

Mr Goodwill was speaking during a Commons debate on rural bus services led by Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh, who called for pensioners to be allowed to make payments to help preserve bus services.

Miss McIntosh, who chairs the Commons environment, food and rural affairs committee, said she too has been contacted by local pensioners asking to be allowed to contribute.

“Those of us who live in and represent rural communities need to ensure that we do not have a significantly worse service than those living in urban conurbations across the Yorkshire region; that young people who do not have their own transport are able to access buses to get to work; and that the elderly and less mobile can continue to access the rural bus network to go to the doctor, the dentist and the hospital,” the Tory backbencher said.

“I have been given a very clear message, particularly by the Ryedale forum for older people and those I have met in Filey, Thirsk, Easingwold and across the piece, that they do not want to lose the service.

“They want to be in a position to continue to enjoy a concessionary fare, but pay something towards keeping the bus service running.”

East Riding of Yorkshire Council has become the latest local authority to announce cuts in its own rural bus services, with £240,000 to be cut from its budget every year from this April.