Transport bosses put off free tram travel decision

Published on Monday 8 August 2011 17:16

TRANSPORT bosses have still not decided whether passengers over the age of 60 will be able to travel on the Capital's trams free of charge.

Transport Scotland said a ruling on whether or not the trams would be included in the national concessionary travel scheme would be made "nearer to the project's conclusion".

It leaves yet another question mark hanging over the embattled project after it was assumed older passengers would be able to travel free of charge, with the Scottish Government picking up the cost.

Revenue projections for the tram project are based on predictions that around 20 per cent of passengers will be those travelling under the concessionary travel scheme introduced in 2006.

However, the initiative - which allows anyone over 60 and some disabled people to travel free of charge on buses - is yet to be given government approval for use on the trams.

Failure to secure concessionary travel on the trams is likely to lead to pensioners shunning them in favour of free buses.

John Carson, a former head of maintenance at Network Rail and an outspoken critic of the tram project, said tram bosses had made an "enormous assumption" about concessionary travel.

He said: "The reason the SNP are not rushing to put concessionary fares into the rail industry is that it's likely to need a 100 million subsidy.

"There's absolutely no way they can afford that. If you extend concessionary travel to trams you have to do the same for trains - it opens a Pandora's box."

He said losing out on customers using the concessionary fares scheme would cost the tram project 3m-4m a year, a cost which would "have to be borne by Lothian Buses".

Currently, concessionary fares allow eligible passengers to travel free of charge on all Scottish buses, with the Scottish Government reimbursing operators for around 70 per cent of the fare.

According to the tram project's final business case, the extension of the concessionary travel scheme is a "fundamental assumption" on which predictions for passenger numbers are based.

Transport Scotland's project manager for the trams, John Ramsay, said the Scottish Government's position on the extension of the concessionary travel scheme had already been set out in a 2009 review.

He said: "That made it clear that a decision would not be made until nearer to the project's conclusion."

A tram spokeswoman said: "The business case for the project works on the assumption that concessionary fares will operate. While no final decision has been made, we are confident that this will be the case."