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Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]

That could be very helpful indeed. I, too, am grateful to the Minister for his reply. He displayed a great deal of sympathy with the thrust of the amendment—its principle—and his reluctance to accept it was principally on the ground of available resources. Of course one completely understands that, but if the desirability of the amendment is recognised, perhaps the best way forward would be to try to break down the additional costs of additional modes of transport for different categories of user, so that if the whole sum cannot be afforded, smaller parts could be. The arguments that the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, and I advanced apply to both disabled and elderly people, but for disabled people, there are particular reasons for disregarding the distinction between peak and off-peak travel times. First, it is often necessary even for short journeys for disabled people to use public transport rather than walk either because of restricted mobility or because they cannot find the way. Also, for persons with restricted mobility, the pedestrian environment is often either inaccessible or unsafe. For all those reasons, free bus travel at peak times can be especially important to enable disabled people to integrate into the community. It would be very helpful if the Minister could consider how much of the total sum to which he referred is made up of expenditure on disabled people.