Concessionary Bus Fair Consultation Result

iSightCornwall ‘delighted’ by Cornwall Council Consultation Result

Following calls by iSightCornwall and other local organisations, Cornwall Council has decided to continue allowing people with disabilities and eligible older people to travel throughout the county for free – at any time of the day.

The Council had considered changing the way the concessions worked which would have imposed time constraints to when the free travel could be undertaken. Concessions would not have been available before 9.30am and after 11pm.

Put to Consultation

As the proposal was put out to consultation, iSightCornwall asked for their clients and supporters to share their views about the changes and to share their experiences with using buses in Cornwall.

We heard back from several of our clients, all of whom were against the changes due to how they would negatively affect them.

One client said: “There is a limited service where I live. I cannot get from my village to my closest town without changing, which takes a long time, it can sometimes be a five hour round trip depending on the bus timetable so I often get the bus as early as 7.45am.

“If these proposed changes came in, the first bus I could use my pass on would not be until 10am which would prolong my day drastically, it would mean I could not attend any appointments in the morning.”

Another said: “It takes a great weight off my mind having the bus pass. I don’t have to budget for my travel because it’s free, I don’t have to worry about trying to count coins and have the right amount for my ticket or that I’m using the right card to pay.

“Travelling around in public after I lost my sight was one of the hardest things to adapt to. Not having to worry about if I’m buying the correct bus ticket for my route or if I have the right coins in my purse took a lot of the stress out of using the bus. I would hate for that to change.”

Voices to the Council

We took the voices of our clients to the Council and responded to the consultation with a call to keep the current system in place for concessions. Cornwall is one of the only counties in the UK which allows travel at any time in the day with a concessionary bus pass and we urged the Council to continue to be better than other areas.

We pointed out how Cornwall’s unique rural geography means more limited buses available, how it would stop people with sight loss getting to appointments and work on time and would also hinder any older volunteers who use their concessionary bus pass to travel to a venue to volunteer.

Following the consultation, Cornwall Council’s Cabinet decided to reject the proposals and to continue allowing people with disabilities and eligible older people to travel throughout the county for free at any time of the day.

iSightCornwall Chief Executive, Carole Theobald said: “ We were delighted to hear the Council’s decision. We knew the concessionary bus passes were important but having spoken to so many of our members and clients it really brought it home how much freedom and independence the passes can bring to people and for that to carry on impeded is fantastic news. Thank you to everyone who shared their views on this matter with us.”