Free bus travel for pensioners 'makes fares unjustly high'

BUS passengers in Edinburgh are "unjustly" paying artificially high fares to help fund free travel for old-age pensioners, the city’s main operator said yesterday.

The head of Lothian Buses told MSPs fares were 12 per cent higher than they should be because of a shortfall in the concessionary travel scheme.

Neil Renilson said fares could be frozen for two years if the firm was fully reimbursed for carrying OAPs free outside morning peak hours. Such passengers accounted for nearly a quarter of the total, but put in just 16 per cent of revenue.

"The balance of our passengers, the full-fare paying passengers, have to pay a higher fare to make up for that difference," he said.

Buses are Edinburgh’s main public transport, with nearly one in three commuters using them to get to work - one of the highest proportions in the UK.

Mr Renilson told the local government and transport committee: "The situation, very simply, is that we are frightening away or overcharging ordinary passengers because of the current reimbursement arrangements.

"We are in the appalling situation where those least able to pay, people on lower incomes who are paying full fare, are actually paying even higher fares than they should because we are having to cross-subsidise to make up for the shortfall on concessionary travel.

"We believe it is unjust and counter-productive."

However, Mr Renilson admitted that the move would cost taxpayers an extra 6 million.

The National Federation of Bus Users expressed fears about the "huge cost" of such schemes and agreed that it was unfair.

Dr Caroline Cahm, its chairman, told the committee she was concerned that pensioners were receiving preferential treatment. She said: "It is not consistent with natural justice to subsidise free travel for one section of the community at the expense of the others."

Dr Cahm said such schemes had increased passengers in some areas, but a funding shortfall must not threaten socially necessary services.

The Scottish Executive said it provided funding for local authorities to run concessionary travel schemes, and Edinburgh had received extra money to top up its grant last year. A spokeswoman said the scheme was designed so that bus operators would be no better and no worse off than before its introduction.

The Executive is planning to spend up to 100 million a year on new national concessionary travel schemes for young people as well as pensioners. The current schemes are limited to local authority areas.