A lot of the confusion over the funding of the Freedom Pass in London arises because there are two different schemes operating that get confused.
First, there is the Freedom Pass. This has been guaranteed since the GLA Act 1999 was passed, and it provides free London-wide travel to eligible residents. This means over-60s who live in London can travel for free on London buses, tubes, and trains.
Second, there is free travel for older people who live outside London, which was introduced by the Government in 2006. This has meant older people outside the capital could get free local travel within their local authority area.
In 2008, the schemes were effectively expanded so that over-60s and disabled people can get free bus travel anywhere in England. This means older Londoners can get free bus travel when they visit other places in England, and older people from other parts of England can use London's buses for free when they visit the capital.
We anticipated that the change in 2008 would mean more older people from outside London would come into the city and use our buses - so to help councils deal with these extra passengers, the Government introduced the Special Grant.
The Special Grant
The Special Grant was designed to direct funding towards ‘hotspot' areas such as coastal towns, urban centres and other authorities likely to experience an increase in concessionary bus journeys as a result of the nationwide free bus travel introduced in 2008.
The recent questions about the funding for free travel have been about this Special Grant. Any discussion about the Special Grant has no impact on the funding available for the Freedom Pass - which is guaranteed for Londoners by the GLA Act 1999. The Special Grant was introduced solely to deal with the additional costs to London boroughs of free travel for non-Londoners when they visit London.
As it turns out, fewer older people from out of town have come and used London's buses than we expected. So the amount of money given in the Special Grant over the last two years has been a lot more than London needed.
London boroughs made a profit from this - and they will allowed to keep this profit. But for the next year, the Special Grant will be reduced to better reflect the number of passengers from outside London who use our buses. London boroughs will still make a profit from this, just not as much as they have for the last two years.
But just to make clear, there new rate of the Special Grant for this year has no effect on Londoners' Freedom Passes, which has been guaranteed by a law Labour passed 10 years ago!
For more information, click on the right to download a letter I received from Transport Minister Sadiq Khan in response to my letter to him about this matter.
