Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at 07:10:40 on Sun, 11 Nov 2012, Recliner remarked:
For someone who becomes 60 today, they'll have to wait until 6 July
2015 to qualify for a national bus pass, assuming they haven't
changed the rules again by then.

That depends on the issuing council(s). I'm sure Cambridgeshire will be one
of the meanest.

Are you saying that councils have discretion on when they'll issue the
passes? And if so, do they generally exercise it to issue them earlier or
later than the "female retirement age" benchmark?

They can issue a local pass earlier if they want, as London now does, but
the national bus pass scheme starts when someone reaches female retirement
age. I don't think English councils can opt out of that.

Have any of the shire counties opted-in to provide the

... National bus pas scheme...

passes early?

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/ne...ds_for_travel/

It's not obvious that the scheme referred to there is a national bus pass.

No, it clearly isn't. Local councils (including London) obviously can't
force any others to provide free travel before the national pass age. But
they are free to grant it to 60+ (or any other) locals in their own area,
as London now does.

In article
,
(Recliner) wrote:

Roland Perry wrote:
In message


, at 07:10:40 on Sun, 11 Nov 2012, Recliner
remarked:
For someone who becomes 60 today, they'll have to wait until 6
July 2015 to qualify for a national bus pass, assuming they
haven't changed the rules again by then.

That depends on the issuing council(s). I'm sure Cambridgeshire
will be one of the meanest.

Are you saying that councils have discretion on when they'll issue
the passes? And if so, do they generally exercise it to issue them
earlier or later than the "female retirement age" benchmark?

They can issue a local pass earlier if they want, as London now does,
but the national bus pass scheme starts when someone reaches female
retirement age. I don't think English councils can opt out of that.

Have any of the shire counties opted-in to provide the

... National bus pas scheme...

passes early?



http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/ne...unds_for_trave
l/

It's not obvious that the scheme referred to there is a national
bus pass.

No, it clearly isn't. Local councils (including London) obviously can't
force any others to provide free travel before the national pass age. But
they are free to grant it to 60+ (or any other) locals in their own area,
as London now does.

A Google search for "concessionary bus travel in England" reveals few if any
other councils issuing passes at 60.I thought I'd read that at least one of
the metropolitan areas had done something similar to Boris.

--
Colin Rosenstiel