Issue - meetings

Concessionary Travel - future of the companion (+1) pass add-on

Meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet (Item 9)

9 Concessionary Travel - Future of the Companion (+1) Pass Add-on pdf icon PDF 126 KB

An update on the Companion (+1) Pass Add-on introduced in January 2024 and due to end on 31 March 2025, including options for its future.

 

Cabinet Portfolio Holder – Councillor Jan Matecki

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Jan Matecki (Portfolio Holder for Transport & Planning) explained the background to this report, noting that a discretionary add-on to the concessionary bus pass had been introduced for a fixed term ending on 31 March 2025, which had allowed some passholders to travel with a carer free of charge.  Feedback on the scheme had been positive and there were 183 passholders with the add-on at the end of December 2024.  The report proposed retaining the add-on so long as funding was available within the existing concessionary travel budget.

 

Councillor Andy Crump was welcoming of the report and increase in bus patronage but suggested that further promotion was required.

 

Councillor Sarah Boad was also supportive of the continuance of this initiative and suggested some improvements to the Council’s website to ensure that older people meeting the criteria were aware they may be eligible for the pass.  Councillor Matecki agreed to liaise with officers about the wording on the website.

 

Councillor Isobel Seccombe thanked Richard Waller, the local resident who attended Cabinet in April 2023 to bring attention to the challenges faced by disabled travellers which had resulted in this scheme coming forward. 

 

Resolved:

 

That Cabinet:

 

1.     Approves the continuation of the Companion (+1) concessionary travel pass add-on scheme, subject to funding continuing to be available within existing budgets.

 

2.     Confirms the continued application of the existing eligibility criteria for the companion (+1) add-on.