TfL to withdraw some age-related concessionary travel 16 May 2020 at 9:59AM in Public Transport & Cycling 44 replies 1.4K views

General_Grant

SeeMe said:

SeeMe said:

General_Grant said:

SeeMe said:

The question i asked is for my sister, lived in london years around wood green north london, aged 62 so it will not be a freedom pass?, I live in the north so never sure how london works out, just asking if free bus travel before 9 30am is now not free?

No, the Freedom Pass is for those over state retirement age.

The only official information we have about the change is from the written statement given to Parliament by Grant Shapps for which a link was provided earlier.  To quote from that, "We have also set a number of other conditions, including: restoring services to 100 per cent of pre-Covid levels as soon as possible; requiring TfL to collect fares on buses while ensuring driver safety, which it had stopped doing during the crisis; easing congestion by the temporary suspension of free travel for over-60s in the morning peak and temporarily suspending free travel for under-18s all day. Disabled people will still be able to make use of their concession passes all day, and Special arrangements will be made for those children who qualify for free travel to schools."

You can see there are no firm dates for any of that.  There is nothing about it on the TfL website which is still selling the 60+ London Oyster photocard. 

Free bus travel may not be available between 6.30 am and 9.30 am at some stage.  I give those hours because those are the peak hours used for calculating Tube fares.

You will also see from the extract that it seems London buses haven't been collecting fares for some time.  So in that sense, it has been free for everybody.

Does your sister have a 60+ card?  Are you yourself of pension age?

Thanks for the reply, just a case now of seeing what becomes clear in time.

Does your sister have a 60+ card?  Are you yourself of pension age?

Its  called 60+ oyster and me not yet pension age.

The only update I have is that the London Evening Standard reported on Friday that the following day fares would recommence being charged on buses which have only one entrance - the one at the front by the driver.  There was no mention of the 60+ card.  It seems very patchy.

SeeMe

General_Grant said:

SeeMe said:

SeeMe said:

General_Grant said:

SeeMe said:

The question i asked is for my sister, lived in london years around wood green north london, aged 62 so it will not be a freedom pass?, I live in the north so never sure how london works out, just asking if free bus travel before 9 30am is now not free?

Does your sister have a 60+ card?  Are you yourself of pension age?

Its  called 60+ oyster and me not yet pension age.

The only update I have is that the London Evening Standard reported on Friday that the following day fares would recommence being charged on buses which have only one entrance - the one at the front by the driver.  There was no mention of the 60+ card.  It seems very patchy.

Thanks again

martindow

General_Grant said:
The only update I have is that the London Evening Standard reported on Friday that the following day fares would recommence being charged on buses which have only one entrance - the one at the front by the driver.  There was no mention of the 60+ card.  It seems very patchy.

Don't all London buses have two sets of doors?  I assumed that the announcement regarding charging fares again meant that they would change to using the front doors as normal rather than people getting on and off using the centre doors as has happened recently.  I worder what drivers make of this change?

General_Grant

martindow said:

General_Grant said:
The only update I have is that the London Evening Standard reported on Friday that the following day fares would recommence being charged on buses which have only one entrance - the one at the front by the driver.  There was no mention of the 60+ card.  It seems very patchy.

Don't all London buses have two sets of doors?  I assumed that the announcement regarding charging fares again meant that they would change to using the front doors as normal rather than people getting on and off using the centre doors as has happened recently.  I worder what drivers make of this change?

No, not all buses running in London have two sets of doors.  I'm in outer London and there are 3 bus routes near my home, one of which uses buses with just the door by the driver.  That one seems to run empty except for the driver whenever it passes me.   (I'm walking to local shops as that takes 20-25 minutes each way.)

The reintroduction of fares is only where the drivers are extra protected - the perforations to facilitate speaking and the gap where cash used to be passed before cash was no longer accepted are being blocked.  Until that is done, I understand fares will still not be collected on those buses.

Jumblebumble

General_Grant said:

SeeMe said:

So in London can a 60+ use the bus free before 9 30 am just a bit confused.

From age 60 up to Female State Retirement Age, residents of London Boroughs can buy (£10 annual fee) card for travel on Tube, bus, some national rail, etc.  This is for the same time restrictions as for those with a Freedom Pass (Transport for London's name for the State Retirement Age card).  Unless it has changed recently, it is available 24 hours a day on TfL services and a few national rail services and with more restricted hours on some other rail services.   

England national concession passes are valid on buses only.  It is likely that bus drivers did not ask for payment even if travelling before 9.30 a.m. even on weekdays.

It is not valid on all TFL services. I cannot use my over 60 pass  to go to Reading
Some people will presumably be able to touch out short of their destination and touch straight back in to save money if they do so after the peak ends

General_Grant

Jumblebumble said:

General_Grant said:

SeeMe said:

So in London can a 60+ use the bus free before 9 30 am just a bit confused.

From age 60 up to Female State Retirement Age, residents of London Boroughs can buy (£10 annual fee) card for travel on Tube, bus, some national rail, etc.  This is for the same time restrictions as for those with a Freedom Pass (Transport for London's name for the State Retirement Age card).  Unless it has changed recently, it is available 24 hours a day on TfL services and a few national rail services and with more restricted hours on some other rail services.   

England national concession passes are valid on buses only.  It is likely that bus drivers did not ask for payment even if travelling before 9.30 a.m. even on weekdays.

It is not valid on all TFL services. I cannot use my over 60 pass  to go to Reading
Some people will presumably be able to touch out short of their destination and touch straight back in to save money if they do so after the peak ends

That seems to be true for the 60+ pass.  Thank you for alerting us to that.  I hold a Freedom Pass and had not realised that it had not changed for 60+ card holders at the same time as for Freedom Pass holders.  The Freedom Pass map was amended to have a dotted line (for any time travel) from West Drayton (the previous final outer station on that route) to include Reading.  Holders just have to make sure that it's a TfL Rail service.  I know people who have travelled on it without charge.

London50

We used our Freedom pass today at 7.45 am on a TFL bus with no problem so I think that Freedom pass users in outer London should be ok for now anyway

General_Grant

Email received from TfL included:

"From Monday 15 June, customers with a 60+ LONDON OYSTER photocard, OLDER
PERSON’S FREEDOM PASS or ENGLISH NATIONAL CONCESSIONARY SCHEME pass
will not be able to use their card between 04:30 and 09:00 Monday to
Friday. This is to enable social distancing on the public transport
network and help control the spread of coronavirus.  If you have no
option other than to use public transport during the morning peak, we
recommend that you travel using pay as you go with a contactless card or
device or an Oyster card."

gt94sss2

One thing I don't understand is why these restrictions are only until only 9am in the morning.

Morning Peak time at TfL has been until 09:30 for years and continues to be for other customers.

macman

Probably because many people who use a 60+ Oyster are still working and need to get on TFL by 9am in order to start work at 9.30am? 
It's pure tokenism: taking a few twirlies off TFL in the morning peak is not going to enable 2m social distancing on any TFL service that I know of, which is why masks are being (belatedly) made compulsory.