Comments on: Give away Mayor can’t be green too

By: Free Travel Row Rumbles On - MayorWatch®

Free Travel Row Rumbles On - MayorWatch® — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:29:39 +0000

[...] a recent entry on his blog Ealing Councillor Phil Taylor [...]

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:16:20 +0000

Margaret,

Boris matched the Mayor’s promise to make the FP 24 hours.

Party on!

By: Margaret

Margaret — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:52:39 +0000

Why has Boris has not followed Ken example by giving elderly people the freedom pass for 24 hrs instead of keeping restrictions on it.

What a shame that Ken did not get back into being Mayor of London as he was doing a very good job look at what we have got now??????

By: Phil Taylor » Blog Archive » Gavron making mischief?

Phil Taylor » Blog Archive » Gavron making mischief? — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:34:52 +0000

[...] cynical enough just to keep up the eye contact throughout. They were all just pulling words out of this piece and changing the order of what I [...]

By: Phil Taylor » Blog Archive » Bassam the munificent

Phil Taylor » Blog Archive » Bassam the munificent — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:50:03 +0000

[...] obviously knows nothing about pensioner poverty. Maybe he should get out and knock on a few doors. Here is what I actually said. The London Mayor has used this as source material for press releases three times so it is no [...]

By: F R Gerschwiler

F R Gerschwiler — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 05:41:14 +0000

So – what is the cost of the Pass? Richmond had said (above) that the cost to them is £380 per pass – my own calculations suggest that if 1049975 elderly/disabled people benefit (Feb07 figures) and the cost for 2007 is £213million the figure per pass seems to be around £203 per person per annum (maybe the Richmond figures were for the 2 year life of each pass? At less than £4 per week (ie 2 bus journeys) I do not think the cost excessive at all. It may be argued that it would be more equitable if the charge to each council (or maybe to the Councils collectively) was based on actual use (the technology probably exists to do this). However I do not think this would result in any significant change in costs to the Councils – but it might be seen as a fairer system.

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 15:26:26 +0000

Colm,

Yes, you have identified the key issue. Once someone applies for a pass their borough pays a fixed fee per head. I have been searching around for further information on this but it is hard to get hold of. I did find this on the Richmond website:

“Each pass costs approximately £380 as soon as it is issued, the total cost to Richmond Council is approximately £5,000,000 a year. The annual cost for the whole of London is approximately £200,000,000, Richmond’s share is based on how many passes the borough issues. This is why it is important to check, whenever the passes are issued, that everyone is eligible.”

I think the numbers are slightly different for each borough. But basically your neighbour has cost the council £380 for his one bus ride. I have no trouble with a pensioner running around town all year for £380 but it is the people who just apply because it is their right but then don’t use it who are wasting a lot of money.

By: Colm Costello

Colm Costello — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 07:29:53 +0000

Phil
Before you raised this issue I naively assumed that the oyster technology was being used to calculate the number of journeys being made by local residents and that local authorities would be billed for the journeys their residents made. If as you suggest there is a fixed cost per freedom pass regardless of use then this needs to be looked at as there is possibly a lot of waste here that local authorities might be able to use in other important areas. I have a neighbour who got his Freedom Pass last year. He has used it once. Do we know what this has cost us as a borough?

By: Alan Cornefert

Alan Cornefert — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:05:49 +0000

I have been partially sighted since birth and therefore not allowed to drive a car.

It was only last year that I found out that I was entitled to a Freedom Pass and what a change it made to my life!

I was able to visit my parents by train without thought to the cost. Up until last year, my Dad would pick me up and then return me home by car. Towards the end of last year, his health declined so he couldn’t do this, but I was able to continue visiting them because of the Freedom Pass. Now my Dad has died recently and I am so grateful that I was able to spend most Sundays with him last year.

My medical condition often makes me feel very lethargic and therefore unable to earn much money. But apart from Tax Credits (as a single person I don’t get much from this), the Freedom Pass is the only benefit I have ever received from the state for my disability. Were it to be taken away I would go back to having to minimise travel as much as possible.

The argument that the wealthy shouldn’t be entitled to the Freedom Pass is a false one. They usually have a car and drive everywhere. People like myself don’t have a choice, we have to use public transport.

I do agree that it would be fairer to charge the London Boroughs for the actual use of the pass, rather than a flat rate per person. But it must be possible to estimate what the overall cost of Freedom Pass journeys is. Everyone has to check in on the tube and buses, and most railway stations. If people apply for the pass, but don’t use it, surely that means that the overall cost is less? Then it comes down to allocating this cost to the London Boroughs.

Even if this is not the situation, this will surely change as smart cards eventually replace the current cards and allow the total cost of Freedom Pass journeys to be calculated. It is just a matter of waiting for technology to solve this problem in time.

By: Stephen Aselford

Stephen Aselford — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 10:08:41 +0000

As a disabled transport user from Croydon I use the freedom pass every day including national rail Trams & busses to visit freinds trying to find work etc. Many disabled people who may have work will unlikly to be on large City aleries so any help would be most greatfull to acsess employment.
The Free travel on local busses across England is welcome but Doesnt Mean to say that the Councils Can withdraw the Rail comsesion Tube or tram