From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Concessionary Bus Travel Act is an Act of the
Parliament of the United
Kingdom which entitles all English people who are either disabled or over
the age of 60 to free travel on local buses at off-peak times anywhere within England
(transport being a devolved matter and therefore within the purview
of the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly);
previously, free travel had only been available within the
recipient's local authority area.[4]
Funding
Under the scheme, bus companies are compensated by local
authorities for carrying passholders, and the authorities in turn
receive funding from central
Government to offset the cost, in the form of a special grant
under s.88B of the Local Government Finance Act 1988[5], for
which a total of £212 million has been allocated. This is
distributed using a funding formula on the basis of four factors
(eligible population, bus patronage, overnight visitors and retail
floor space),[6]
in the following proportions:
|
Proportion |
| Eligible population |
5.1% |
| Bus patronage |
41% |
| Overnight visitors |
15.4% |
| Retail floor space |
38.5% |
The funding allocated by Government was criticised by some[7][8] as
inadequate, and some local authorities anticipate budget shortfalls
as a result.[9] The
government defended its decision not to compensate local
authorities on the basis of actual costs incurred on the grounds
that "such an approach would mean that the central government would
hold all the financial risks but have no commensurate control of
how the risks are managed".[6]
Passage through
Parliament
As is common for uncontroversial measures, the Bill was
introduced in the House of Lords, where it received
cross-party support.[10] It
received third reading from the Lords on 5 February
2006, and from the Commons on 28 June, with minor amendments,
including one allowing the Government to make payments from public
funds to fund the scheme, since money bills cannot be
started in the Lords. These amendments were agreed to on 5 July,
and the Bill received Royal Assent on 19 July. Under the commencement order, the
Bill entered into force to allow the making of some regulations by
the Secretary of State,
and for some other preliminary purposes, on 17 October 2007, and in
full on 1 April 2008.
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