Memorandum from Help the Aged (TPT 22)
INTRODUCTION AND
SUMMARY
Summary
— Free national bus travel for
older people will help us take an important step forward in making
public transport accessible to older people.
— Whilst we have welcomed the
plans for free national bus provision, Help the Aged believes
that there is a need for flexibility in provision of concessionary
fares by local authorities.
— Help the Aged want local authorities
to offer alternative concessions (eg tokens for taxis) for those
who cannot use, or do not have access to, bus services.
— The Department for Transport
should be providing guidance for local authorities on how to offer
a flexible system of concessionary fares.
— Help the Aged would like to
see provision made in the Government's Bill for concessionary
passes to be used for community transport in areas where the bus
service is inadequate and for those who are unable to use public
transport due to disabilities.
INTRODUCTION
Transport has a fundamental impact on older
people's lives and access to safe, accessible, reliable and affordable
transport for older people is a key concern for Help the Aged.
Public transport is vital to older people. It is a lifeline to
friends and family but it also helps people to stay active and
independent. If it was free to travel more people would enjoy
a richer old age.
"Everyone in the country should have
a free bus pass. We are very lucky to have such a good scheme
in London" Male, Aylesbury Estate, London.
"I have to go shopping nearly every day—I
just can't carry it all for the week" Female, London.
"Let's face it, you wouldn't go out,
you'd just stay in if you didn't have one (Freedom pass)".
Female, Tulse Hill.
One in five older people live in poverty, and
those on low incomes depend on cheaper public transport. Yet older
people face indirect discrimination in its design and delivery,
as well as financial and cultural barriers to access.
Help the Aged recently published "Bus
Travel and Transport Concessions" (2006, HTA) which sets
out how public transport and travel concessions are perceived
by older people, particularly those with mobility problems and
those who rely solely on public transport. The report highlights
how older respondents welcome proposals for a nationwide scheme
for travel concessions to be introduced in 2008, but they also
strongly favour choices being offered, by way of tokens for use
on taxis, community transport and other alternatives to bus travel,
to meet their differing needs. For many, even free bus services
are of little use because they find it difficult, if not impossible,
to use public transport. Yet the survey reaffirms what previous
surveys have stated; that there are some key perceived barriers
to greater use of public transport by older actual and potential
passengers. Punctuality and reliability are vital but so are a
range of other factors such as drivers' attitudes, information,
comfort and safety.
DEMOGRAPHY
In 2002, there were 9.5 million people aged
65 and over in the UK. The number of older people in our population
has increased over the past few decades and is projected to continue
to grow in the future. During the 50 years from 1971 to 2021,
the number of people in the UK aged 65 and over is expected to
have increased nearly 70%, from 7.3 million to 12.2 million. The
section of the older population which has increased most rapidly,
both in actual size and in relation to the total population, is
that of people over 75. The proportion of people in this age-group
is projected to increase from 4.5% in 1971 to 9% in 2021.
ABOUT HELP
THE AGED
AND OUR
WORK ON
TRANSPORT
Help the Aged is a charity fighting to free
disadvantaged older people in the UK and overseas from poverty,
isolation and neglect. It campaigns to raise public awareness
of the issues affecting older people and to bring about policy
change. The Charity delivers a range of services: information
and advice, home support and community living, including international
development work. These are supported by its fundraising activities
and paid for services. Help the Aged also funds vital research
into the health issues and experiences of older people to improve
the quality of later life.
In preparing this response, Help the Aged has
drawn on our extensive research and experience of working with
and talking to older people. We have published widely in relation
to transport and older people including:
— Local Bus Services and Travel
Concessions. Key findings of a survey into the experiences and
views of older people (2007).
— Travel, Access and Older People
(2006).
— In the Right Place, Accessibility,
Local Services and Older People (2005).
— Fair Fares, Calling for freedom
of travel for older people in the UK (2003).
— Help the Aged Transport Council:
SARA (Safe, Accessible, Reliable and Affordable) (1988).
We have also supported older people's forums
to do their own research on transport and in 2004, the Eastleigh
Southern Parishes Older People's forum published "Sic
transit...." Hamble to Hospital. The Hospital Travel Needs
of Older People in Hamble le Rice. (2004).
CONCESSIONARY FARES—THE
RIGHT STRATEGY?
Is the Government's concessionary fares strategy,
including the proposed scheme for concessionary bus travel, adequate?
— 12% of older people (1.2 million)
feel trapped in their own home;
— 13% of older people (1.26 million)
don't go out more than once a week;
— 3% of older people never go
out;
— 17% of older people have less
than weekly contact with family, friends and neighbours;
— 11% have less than monthly contact;
and
— 1.2 million pensioners have
no other source of income than the state benefits (GB).
Free national bus travel for older people will
help us take an important step forward in making public transport
accessible to older people. The Bill currently going through Parliament
will extend the current legislation and enable the implementation
of a statutory minimum concession of free off-peak travel for
pensioners and disabled people on local buses anywhere in England.
Under the current system older people and other qualifying groups
are entitled to free bus travel only in their local area.
Help the Aged has warmly welcomed the Bill,
which will allow older people to use local bus services nationwide.
However, we have a number of concerns:
Takeup of concessionary fares
Help the Aged's "Fair Fares"
(2003) made the case for a national system of concessionary fares
and we are delighted that the Government have taken this on. However,
the report also highlights the need to improve, as a matter of
urgency, the levels of take-up of senior citizen travel concessions,
with particular attention to disadvantaged and ethnic minority
groups.
The fact that there remains a low take-up of
concessions in some areas and for particular groups is a major
problem. Despite energetic take-up work by some local councils,
there is still a long way to go. Central Government and Local
Government should work together to ensure all older people use
and benefit from concessionary fares. A national scheme may well
help facilitate national promotion which could help in this area.
Concessions are important but only part of the
solution
Of course the solution isn't just about free
travel—if the Government's strategy is to succeed we need
a transport system for older people which is Safe, Accessible,
Reliable and Affordable. Early on in Help the Aged's transport
campaigning, a report (SARA 1998) was published which highlighted
the four fundamental elements of older people's transport needs:
Safe, Accessible, Reliable and Affordable (SARA), and how failures
in these four areas combine to create barriers to transport use
for older people.
Whilst there has been some progress, older people
continue to complain that local transport services fail to meet
their needs. A survey to be published in Spring 2007 shows that
of those respondents who agreed that their life is not as full
as they would like it to be, one in five said that better public
transport would help them be more active.
And communities and services within them must
be better "planned" to meet the needs of an ageing population
Help the Aged's In the Right Place (2005)
details a series of recommendations and key issues to be considered
by local authorities as they develop their local transport accessibility
plans. If we want older people to be active citizens within thriving
communities we need to ensure that the communities themselves
are delivering the right services in the right places.
Our follow-up report (Travel Access and Older
People 2006) examined a representative selection of local
transport plans in order to find out how well the recommendations
of the initial report have been implemented and to what extent
the needs of older people are being met. We found that although
much has been done, there is still much to do.
While key services such as healthcare centres
and food shops are being factored into local transport planning,
equally critical destinations such as post offices and banks are
being largely ignored. The report revealed that of 31 local councils
surveyed, only 10 actually made any efforts to speak to older
people or their representatives when designing a local transport
plan.
Restriction to Off Peak Travel
The Bill going through Parliament only provides
for a mandatory free local off peak bus pass. Restricting concessions
to off-peak times prevents older people from travelling to an
early medical appointment, morning adult education courses, or
leisure activities with an early start time. Whilst the Government's
Bill will remove the barrier for older people travelling to a
hospital appointment on the "other" side of a county/district
boundary, the failure to remove the peak time restriction for
all means that older people who need to be at hospital for early
appointments may still be forced to pay.
Are concessionary fares schemes sufficiently integrated
across different modes of transport and different geographical
areas?
No. Whilst we have welcomed the free national
bus provision, Help the Aged believes that there is a need for
flexibility in provision of concessionary fares by local authorities.
Help the Aged are extremely concerned that the
Government's Bill restricts itself to providing free travel on
buses alone. Bus passes are of no use in areas there are no or
poor bus services.
Help the Aged would like to see provision made
in the Bill for passes to be used for community transport in areas
where the bus service is inadequate and for those who are unable
to use public transport due to disabilities.
Bus passes are also of limited use for the significant
proportion of older people, who, due to disability or mobility
problems (or because the services are not accessible enough) cannot
use bus services.
Many older people face barriers that prevent
them from using bus services. A recent survey carried out by Help
the Aged in Portsmouth identified the following reasons for older
people avoiding bus use:
— difficulty in carrying shopping
on and off the bus;
— difficulty getting to and waiting
at bus stops in bad weather;
— difficulty in getting to/from
bus stops to home or destination;
— anxiety over anti-social behaviour;
— difficulty in getting to a seat
before the bus moves off;
— buses run at inconvenient or
infrequent times; and
— timetables difficult to read.
For some people who may not be registered disabled,
and therefore not have access to the mobility components of benefit
packages that those who become disabled before the age of 65 are
entitled to, but nonetheless experience mobility difficulties,
buses can be impractical and impossible to use.
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a non-means-tested
benefit for disabled people with care or mobility needs. People
who become disabled and claim DLA before their 65th birthday can
continue to receive it after the age of 65. However, people whose
disability arises at or after the age of 65 (or who don't claim
help until after 65) can only claim the much more limited Attendance
Allowance (AA). There is no mobility component to AA, meaning
those aged 65 and over cannot receive help with mobility costs.
For these people, a free bus pass is of no use whatsoever.
There is a risk that insisting in statute on
free bus passes will impact on the flexible provision provided
by local authorities. In many local authorities, concessionary
fares are available in a more flexible form, with the extra cost
borne by local taxation. This Bill will not do anything to remove
this postcode lottery and provide the same high standard flexible
concessions for all.
In 2006, the Social Exclusion Unit report A
Sure Start to Later Life reinforced the need for flexibility
in the provision of transport services for older people. It found
that "older people have told us clearly that they value flexible,
individualised transport services which can allow them to retain
their independence within their local community." In the
report, problems accessing transport came out as an underpinning
factor that contributed to every type of isolation of older people.
At present any "enhancements" to the
basic free off peak local bus schemes, such as offering tokens
which can be used on taxis, trains or community transport schemes,
have to be paid for by local councils. Evidence from a study that
Help the Aged undertook in Portsmouth suggests that for a large
minority of older people, such a scheme better meets their needs
that a simple bus pass. Help the Aged want local authorities to
offer alternative concessions (eg tokens for taxis) for those
who cannot use or don't have access to buses. At the least, the
DFT should be providing guidance for local authorities on how
to offer a flexible system of concessionary fares.
March 2007
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