Council warned of backlash as it considers ending bus passes

Hull Council estimates it would save between 300,000 and 632,000 if it withdraws its free bus travel scheme for residents aged 60 or over and the disabled.

A national scheme provides free travel to pass holders between 9.30am and 11pm on weekdays, and all day at weekends and bank holidays.

The council currently funds an extension of this to provide free travel to pass holders at all other times, and is given a Government grant to fund the scheme during the statutory hours.

Funding for the national scheme is to be reviewed next year.

A report to the council's Cabinet on Monday said it has two options – to withdraw its funding of free travel outside the hours of the national scheme, or to only provide free travel after 8.30am.

But the report, by Trish Dalby, the authority's head of streetscene services, said the council had little alternative other than to withdraw the scheme completely because of funding pressures.

It said: "Although the rationale for the discretionary element, drawing as it does on factors like the relatively low incidence of car ownership in the city, has often been debated in the past, the financial constraints now incumbent on the council are such that a fundamental reappraisal of the relevant benefits and costs of the discretionary scheme is essential.

"With the current pressure on resources, it is difficult to envisage that the conclusion of any such review can be anything other than the complete cessation of the discretionary element."

Opposition Labour Group leader, Coun Steve Brady, said he accepted cuts had to made but they should come elsewhere.

He also warned the Liberal Democrat-led authority that withdrawing the scheme would anger many users.

He said: "There's about 700,000 they can save and they are calling it painless, but the freedom that has given people has been fantastic.

"I would definitely be against it and I think there would be a public backlash.

"I can't understand it when the first thought is to hit services for elderly people, stopping them leading a full life.

"I can understand why they have looked at it, but why don't they look at the top of the list because there are huge amounts of money to be found in senior posts where people are doing next to nothing?"

He added: "There might be some difficult decisions to make, but why do they always attack frontline services?"

Nearly 44,000 people in the city currently have the pass in question – 39,600 because of age, 3,487 because of disability, and 756 for residents who are disabled and require a companion.

In the financial year 2009/10, more than seven million journeys were made by the pass holders, at a net cost of more than 5m to the council.

Bus operators would be given four months notice of any changes.

A debate on plans to withdraw a similar scheme in the East Riding will be held at a meeting of East Riding Council next Wednesday.

The East Riding's Early Bird bus pass, which allows free travel before 9.30am on week days, could be scrapped and replaced by a new scheme.

Only 1,400 people out of the 96,000 eligible – or 15 per cent – have an Early Bird bus pass, which costs the council just under 220,000 a year to subsidise.

A report recommends ending the scheme and investing the savings in improved transport provision for a wider number of people, including residents who are under 60.