Stoate welcomes Council climbdown on concessionary bus passes

Dartford MP, Dr Howard Stoate, has welcomed the announcement by Kent County Council this week of a u-turn on concessionary bus passes. The council has announced that from 30 June concessionary bus pass holders will be able to use their passes from 9am instead of the current 9.30 am.
 
The u-turn follows an admission by KCC officers last week that the necessary cash to fund a return to a 9am start time is in fact available – contradicting earlier claims by councils in Kent that the Government hadn’t given them enough funding to do so.
 
Dr Stoate, who has lobbied hard for a return to a 9am start time said;
 
“This news represents a major climb-down by the council. They are trying to dress this up as some kind of concession to older people but the truth is that they should have never have abandoned the 9am start time in the first place.”
 
“They’ve tried to play politics with this issue and it has back-fired on them. The only thing that they have succeeded in doing is inconveniencing hundreds of older people and other vulnerable residents who rely on early morning bus services.”
 
“More than enough money has been given to them by the Government to fund a 9am start time. Once again claims about insufficient Government funding have been exposed as false. Instead of congratulating themselves they should have the good grace to admit that they’ve got things wrong and apologise to the public.”

The KCC report to Cabinet last week stated: “The introduction of the National Scheme has been funded by a special additional grant to the districts. The apportionment to Kent as a whole, at £4.5 million for 2008/09 is estimated to exceed the costs of running the scheme this year. We estimate that £3.8m will be required and that all of the Kent districts with the exception of Tunbridge Wells, will have surpluses from the additional payments made by Government. The additional cost of allowing pass holders to travel fro free in between 9am and 9.30am has been estimated at some £150,000.”

Until April 2008 Kent residents were entitled to free off-peak travel from 9am covering all journeys that started or finished in Kent. When the new national concessionary scheme was introduced however Dartford BC and other Kent councils decided not to offer residents any additional concessions beyond the national statutory minimum start time of 9.30am set down by the Government.