Disabled people in England will be able to use their bus passes for free travel at any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from April next year. The change removes current time restrictions that limit travel to weekdays between 9.30am and 11pm, unless local authorities fund an extension.
Funding and implementation
The £60 million cost of the move will come from existing budgets, with £40 million from the Department for Work and Pensions and £20 million from the Department for Transport. The policy applies across all areas in England.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the change as part of efforts to ease cost-of-living pressures. He previously removed time restrictions on disabled bus passes in Greater Manchester when he was mayor.
Reaction and criticism
Burnham said: “Buses are a lifeline for so many people – making it easier to get to work, education and healthcare. It’s simply not right that many disabled people cannot travel using their pass during certain times of the day. So we’re fixing that. Disabled people will now have unlimited free bus travel 24/7.”
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon, who has campaigned for the change for almost two years, said: “Disabilities don’t start at 9 o’clock, neither should disabled bus passes and soon enough they won’t. This is a huge win for the disabled community.”
The attempt to remove the time restrictions was originally rejected by MPs last year. A Conservative Party spokesman said: “This is simply the shuffling around of existing departmental budgets. Andy Burnham needs to come clean about how he is going to fund this growing list of policies.”
Burnham has also announced other measures to tackle the rising cost of living, including cutting business rates for pubs, capping bus fares at £2 and axing VAT from electricity bills.
