TfL to withdraw some age-related concessionary travel

General_Grant

t0rt0ise said:

Interesting. I wonder if it will be for new holders only. I know they started an annual charge for the 60 plus card after I got it and I've not been asked to pay it.

Do you have the 60+ card or have you reached state retirement age?

soolin

I have an over 60 Oyster card and am currently very confused as to when I can use it and when not , the website doesn’t appear to have been updated and still implies that I can use it on my usual route on TFL overground into London at any time, which I did not think was currently the case under the new rules. I don’t actually need to use it at the moment as I have been laid off from my usual work in London, but I hope it is made clearer before I return (if I get my freelance post back!) 

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/60-plus-oyster-photocard

General_Grant

The Evening Standard did not give a date for the time restriction on use of cards and neither did the Mayor of London website statement.
I can understand that TfL are able to change terms to whatever is required in respect of Tube travel and in respect of the 60+ card because they are London specific.  But the element of the Freedom Pass which relates to buses is a national scheme.  Would we have holders of a, say, Birmingham area concessionary travel card being able to travel on a bus at 09:31 but a Londoner not being able to do so?

In practical terms, unless or until TfL communicate a definite change, we just turn up and attempt to use our cards and, if they fail to be accepted and we have to make the journey (which would have been "essential" any way), we are prepared to use a contactless debit or credit card as a substitute.

Gravedigger

A few years ago it was the thing to not use public transport in the morning peak. The Freedom pass couldn't be used before 0930. Those that did were known to London Underground staf as "Twirlies" (Too earelies). The full 24 hour thing is only a few years old.

General_Grant

Gravedigger said:

A few years ago it was the thing to not use public transport in the morning peak. The Freedom pass couldn't be used before 0930. Those that did were known to London Underground staf as "Twirlies" (Too earelies). The full 24 hour thing is only a few years old.

09:30 is the national start time - and it ends at 23:00.  Curfew for older people between 23:00 and 09:30 except at weekends and bank holidays when we can travel at any time.

I've now discovered that London was different ( GLA Act 1999):
the statutory minimum hours at which the travel concession must be provided are at any time at weekends and bank holidays and from midnight to 4.30am and the period from 9.30am to midnight on any other day.  So they are presumably amending the Act.

Torry_Quine

I presume that national is a misnomer here. I'm in Scotland and there's no restrictions on the time they can be used.

General_Grant

Torry_Quine said:

I presume that national is a misnomer here. I'm in Scotland and there's no restrictions on the time they can be used.

And, of course, you can't use your passes in England or Wales (or Northern Ireland as far as I am aware).

It is indeed the "England national concessionary travel scheme".  Arrangements elsewhere are devolved responsibilities. 

It is the London scheme which now seems to be facing curtailment.  Because London is in England it is the England national scheme which should apply for holders who reside elsewhere in England and it is that scheme which applies when London holders visit other places in England.  So, for example, I cannot travel free on the trains in the West Midlands which my friends in Birmingham could..

molerat

General_Grant said:

Torry_Quine said:

I presume that national is a misnomer here. I'm in Scotland and there's no restrictions on the time they can be used.

And, of course, you can't use your passes in England or Wales (or Northern Ireland as far as I am aware).

Although I could travel to Carlisle (and back thankfully) but I can't think of one reason why I would possibly want to

gt94sss2

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2020-05-18/HCWS240/

General_Grant

gt94sss2 said:

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2020-05-18/HCWS240/

Thank you for that. 

It is clearer in that, for the older age group, the restriction is a "temporary suspension of free travel for over-60s in the morning peak".  The "peak" as defined by TfL on their website is 06:30 to 09:30.  This is actually less restricting in terms of time and of age than the national scheme.

For the young, the agreement was for "temporarily suspending free travel for under-18s all day".

Still doesn't give a start date for the restrictions, whether they come in in January (like the fares increase) or now (sensible to ease overcrowding).