Over 60's free bus travel goes national

[rscott74]

I understand that over 60's free bus travel is going to permit travel nation wide from 1st April. At present travel is restricted to the county of residence. Can anyone confirm that this is still happening?
I hope it is the case as it would allow me to travel into County Durham as I presenty live in Tyne & Wear but close to the boundary with Durham. It will expand the area for my wildlife trips.
Do any other colleagues use free travel to get out and about?

[Paul mabbott]

Difficult to find information on this because, apparently, there is still a lot of argument about what 'local' travel means.
The initial view was that all short-distance buses/trams (as opposed to long distance coaches) and ditto trains, would be free to people with one of these cards.
However, apparently, there are two sets of problems. Most of the funding of transport companies comes from local authorities and, to run the scheme, they (the businesses) are asking for more money from local councils who feel that since it is a national scheme then the money should come from central givernment. Also there are arguments about what is 'local' transport. If I want to get to Chesterfield can I do it on the trains to London? Extending this, I could, slowly, actually travel to London by changing at Chesterfield, Derby, Loughborough, Leicester, Market Harborough ....

I do hope that they make their minds up soon. With my 'bus pass I can already travel to Leeds (should I want to ) by train (as long as it's a Northern train rather than an East Midlands one) which isn't really joined up ... on the other hand, I live a fifty minute walk or ten minute 'bus ride from Derbyshire where I would dearly like to be able to travel freely .... rather like you going into Durham.

So, the answer is: I don't know!

Originally Posted by rscott74

I understand that over 60's free bus travel is going to permit travel nation wide from 1st April. At present travel is restricted to the county of residence. Can anyone confirm that this is still happening?
I hope it is the case as it would allow me to travel into County Durham as I presenty live in Tyne & Wear but close to the boundary with Durham. It will expand the area for my wildlife trips.
Do any other colleagues use free travel to get out and about?

[rscott74]

This information below came from Nexus, the transport authority in my area. Up here the CT card doesn't cover local rail or Metro travel. From Paul's reply it seems that local rail travel is covered in his area. Anyhow it seems that free bus travel into neighbouring counties is going to be available soon. A boost for us oldsters!

Q: How do I take advantage of this scheme?
A: You need a new national concessionary travel card, issued by Nexus to qualifying people resident in Tyne and Wear. If you already have a Nexus concessionary travel pass, relax – Nexus will automatically send out the new credit card-sized plastic card to your home towards the end of March. If you don’t hold a current pass you need to apply through a Nexus Travelshop. There is no charge for a pass.

Q: When can I travel?
A: Free bus travel for those eligible runs from 9.30am until 11pm on weekdays, and all day weekends and bank holidays, across England. In Tyne and Wear extra local concessions also apply (see below)


Q: Does my bus journey have to start or end in Tyne and Wear?
A: No. You can get on a local bus anywhere in England, providing you have the new national card. You cannot, however use the card to travel in Scotland or Wales. You will have to pay for any part of a journey that goes into either country. These countries have their own, separate, schemes.

[Paul mabbott]

Someone told me yesterday that the cards will come into effect early in April - I forgot the date.

Just hoping this isn't an elaborate April fool's joke!

[Paul mabbott]

There are quite a lot of tales on the web about people going for records using free travel - one of the earliest was London to Grantham before lunch. There would, of course, be someone doing Lands End to John o'Groats - one week and a few hours. Richard Elloway becomes first pensioner to travel free from Land's to John o'Groats - Times Online

Sad that you can't use the card for the tube in London - I did recently use it for a bendybus ride from Mile End to Holborn though Sad that they're doing away with those 'buses.

[rscott74]

I've been to Durham a couple of times for a look along the river. I intent to go to Crimdon Dene, there's a direct serivice from Hetton to Hartepool every 1/2 hour with a journey time of 37 mins. Nothing spectacular but such trips were not possible, free of charge, before 1st April.
My wife is appying for her card tomorrow as her birthdays in less than 3 weeks - she's been looking forward to it for ages.