Concessionary Fares - Mixed success

Your Borough recently extended Concessionary Fares to those over 60, or disabled.

It has been a resounding success with the numbers of residents taking advantage of the scheme rising from 8,500 to 14,500 as reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 9th July 08.

It is hoped that increased bus use has reduced congestion, and the number of car journeys but there is no hard evidence to show that this is the case.

There is no evidence to show whether the increased use is urban travel, or rural travel. Only the number of journey's made is recorded. Not their length or location. I have called for such reports in future to highlight whether we are seeing more short hop urban travel, or seeing a rise in use in critical rural routes serving our village communities where 26% of households have no access to a vehicle.

I have also called for clarification at whether the costs per mile of travel has reduced overall by the increased use.

We need to know this information so we can fully understand the benefits to our community of this service, and not simply focus on the rising cost as more people take up the rights offered to them

The kick in the teeth for local Council Taxpayers is the Labour Government's failure to honour its pledge to fund the expanded scheme!