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Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 3: 3: Clause 1, page 1, line 13, after ““bus”” insert ““, train, underground train, tram or ferry”” The noble Lord said: This important set of amendments would, first, extend the current scheme to other forms of transport, including buses, the underground, tramways and ferries, both inside and outside London. Secondly, it would abolish the time restrictions that are currently in place. In short, we are probing why the Bill has been drafted to include only buses and time restrictions, which we may discuss at some length. It is clear that certain groups of disabled and elderly people would benefit greatly from the application of concessions to a wider range of transport modes. For example, people with autism prefer to use door-to-door services because they often have difficulty in judging road safety and can experience anxiety on scheduled bus transport services, especially when routes and timetables are frequently changed. The difficulty in accessing the higher mobility rate of disability living allowance for some disabled people means that door-to-door transport is currently not an option for them, because of the additional costs associated with its use. In some areas, concessionary fare passes can already be used in taxis, community transport and other door-to-door transport. That is particularly important in rural areas. In Scotland, many ferry journeys are also covered by the concessionary fares scheme in recognition of the local transport services that ferries provide between the Scottish islands and the mainland. We heard much about that at Second Reading. We would encourage the same approach for similar services throughout the UK. In urban areas, concessions are often available to be used on local rail and light railway services. This is important when train and tram services are used for local journeys as an alternative to buses. The second set of amendments in this group would allow travel at any time, both inside and outside London. Restriction of concessionary travel during morning peak periods has a severely detrimental effect on disabled people travelling to or looking for work. That is the strongest issue raised by these amendments. I know that the noble Lord, Lord Low, will follow me, but his organisation, the Royal National Institute of the Blind, has suggested that only 27 per cent of blind and partially sighted people of working age are in employment—and that where people are employed, they are more likely to be in lower-paid jobs. I do not like to keep citing the situation in my own county but, in Chelmsford, where we now have only about 1 per cent unemployment, we would like to get many more disabled people back into work. Allowing them to use transport at peak times would be very helpful in enabling that to happen. Access to Work is often incorrectly thought to be an alternative to concessionary fares but this support is only available to disabled people who are unable to use existing transport. That is why I feel very strongly about this matter. In addition, disabled people often need to travel early for medical appointments, education and leisure and, indeed, because it is easier for them to access less crowded places. That is another reason for reconsidering the timings. It is pleasing to note that the Bill would not prevent local authorities from continuing to offer concessions which are more generous than the statutory minimum. However, as the Government have improved the minimum concessionary fare scheme for older and disabled people, some local authorities have reduced their existing schemes to the statutory minimum. For example, pressure has been put on a number of schemes which provided free morning peak travel for blind people but not for older and disabled people. There needs to be some clear statement from the Government as to their philosophy and policy on this matter. When this issue arose in London, the Association of London Government, as it was then, extended free travel to all disabled people in the morning peak. There have been no time restrictions on using the Freedom Pass in the morning peak in London on buses, the Underground and the DLR since April 2003. This has not caused many difficulties despite the huge pressure on public transport in London at that time. The Scottish and Welsh schemes also provide free travel in the morning peak. I hope the Minister will rethink on this matter. It is a big issue which I am sure will be discussed during the passage of the legislation. I beg to move.