The TAS Partnership welcomes the publication by The House of Commons Transport Select Committee (TSC) of a report commissioned from us reviewing fare concessions available on different modes of public transport in England (outside London).

Read the report here (pdf, 4 MB)

The research – Review of Reduced and Concessionary Fares in England Outside London was published on 31 October, 2019 and commissioned following the TSC’s Health of the Bus Market report. One conclusion of the TSC report was to look into concessionary fares as a future inquiry.

It defines a ‘concessionary fare’ as any fare reduced to below the adult level offered to particular groups of people. We primarily focused on:

Fares for older people and disabled people;

Fares for children (under 16) and young people;

Fares for families and groups; and

Travel by:

• Bus;
• National rail;
• Light rail;
• Community transport; and
• Ferries.

“The main finding is one of inconsistency,” commented TAS Head of Operations Steve Warburton.

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme provides a statutory minimum level of free travel on local buses at specified times, yet pass availability varies widely from authority to authority in terms of time, mode and eligibility and, in particular, whether companion passes are offered to disabled passholders who cannot travel independently.

Children and Young People, dependent upon whose bus they board, what time of day and where, must pay full adult fare at a range of ages between five and twenty-six and the percentage reduction, when offered, varies hugely. It is a myth that children universally ‘pay half fare up to age sixteen’. The vast majority of reduced fares for children and young people are commercial initiatives by the operators.

Inconsistency prevails in the availability of tickets for families and group and the level of discount offered compared to buying separate tickets and in terms of the maximum number of people included in a ‘family’ or group. Even the nominally national ‘GroupSave’ ticket on National Rail is not offered by all train operators.

“Enhancements to ENCTS and discretionary discount schemes for children and young people have been easy targets for councils looking at saving money” said TAS Senior Consultant, Matthew Moll, who managed the project. “This has added to the patchwork nature of discount availability,” he concluded.

Welcoming the report, Louise Butcher, Policy Lead – Transport, for the House of Commons Library Research Service commented: “This is an useful and illuminating report showing what concessions are available, who they apply to and when and where they can be used – an invaluable resource for researchers going forwards.”

For more information about TAS’ work on concessionary fares, contact Matthew Moll on 01772 204988.