Pensioners and disabled people from across Oxfordshire face having their coach travel concessions cut by the Government, leading to fears they will become more isolated.
Currently pensioners and disabled people are offered a 50 per cent discount on coach travel but, as of November 1, the discounts will be discontinued. The cut, which was first announced as part of the Government's Spending Review in 2010, is estimated to save between £18 and £20m.
Helena Parch, a pensioner from Faringdon, said: “This is quite a blow. I regularly use the National Express coach service from Oxford to Portsmouth to see my sister but now I may not be able to afford to visit as often as I would like. My budget is already stretched as it is.”
Paul Caan, chief executive at Age UK Oxfordshire, said: “This news is disastrous for older people when we are already seeing nearly half of villages in Oxfordshire finding it hard to get access to services, which is very poor against the national average. The whole direction of policy is supposed to be to supporting active and independent living for a longer and healthier lifestyle, with part of this about keeping mobile. The reductions on transport really limit this.”
But Transport minister, Theresa Villiers MP, said: “The pressing need to tackle deficit has required us to make a number of difficult decisions, including this one.
“The Government has decided that the limited funds the taxpayer can afford should be used to support schemes such as the statutory national concession, which offers free travel on local bus services. That has meant that some other areas of transport spending, such as support for long distance coach travel, have had to be cut.”
Neil Coyle, director of policy at the Disability Alliance, said that discounted travel had been a significant help to the third of disabled people already live in poverty in the UK.
“Many disabled people will be unable to travel at full cost on coaches and train fares can seem out of reach, especially with half of working age disabled adults out of work and disabled people in work earning less than non-disabled colleagues," he said.
And Sophie Allain from the Campaign for Better Transport said: “This has been a hasty and poorly assessed decision which is bad news for older and disabled bus passengers but also threatens to tip a number of coach routes into decline and closure especially in rural and disadvantaged areas.
“When difficult decisions have to be made it is vital that the Government assesses the impacts fully, consults the public and communicates with operators. Unless the Government pauses to do these things it will be vulnerable coach passengers who lose out.”
Between April 2010 and March 2011, more than 2.8m concessionary journeys were made on National Express services, the largest UK coach operator. Those who are over 60 or have a disability can use the concessionary scheme on National Express company coaches, provided they book by midnight on October 31 and are travelling on or before August 31, 2012.
