Pensioners travelling by bus at peak times (FOI)

​Request

As Eddie Noel, Minister of Transport and Technical Services, has proposed that pensioners should pay for buses travelling at peak times, please could TTS or other relevant authority
supply me with:

A.

Statistics on numbers of pensioners travelling in peak time (which I assume the Minister must have)

B.

Definition of what is meant by “peak time” in this particular context

C.

Rate at which pensioners would be expected to pay if not full fare

Response

A.

The most recent quarter for which data is available covers the period January to March 2015. Using the definition of “peak time” as the one and a half hours from 7am to 8.30am, on
weekdays only (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and bank holidays), the average number of
recorded bus passenger journeys using a concessionary travel card is typically 120 per working day, equivalent to nearly four fully seated single decker commuter buses.

B.

As indicated in the answer to the first question, “peak time” in terms of bus travel is taken to mean the one and a half hour period between 7am and 8.30am on a working weekday.

C.

In the proposed States' Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 to 2019 (MTFP), there are references to concessionary fares on page 70:

"Increases in bus ridership have meant that expenditure on concessionary fares for pensioners and the school bus service is significantly in excess of budget. Concessionary fares are a substantial contractual cost of the service and these costs will continue to increase year on year, unless changes are made to the concessionary travel rules".

and on page 85:

"Concessionary bus fares are also under consideration to maximise bus capacity during the morning peak period".

In the light of budgetary pressures, a peak hour charge remains a more preferable policy option than reducing services. 

However, as no policy decision has been made, it is not possible to indicate the fare level that would be charged for a concessionary pass during the morning peak, were such a proposal to be formally put forward.