'Free' bus and train scheme needs to be axed urgently says expert
Free or cut-price travel for the over-60s is being questioned amid claims the perk is outdated, unfair and costing taxpayers an eye-watering half a billion pounds a year. More than 1.5 million Londoners currently enjoy free travel on buses, Tubes, trams and trains thanks to the 60+ Oyster Card and the Freedom Pass.
But critics say the schemes are increasingly being used by well-off older workers, while younger people are left footing the bill through council tax and the congestion charge. Analysis by the Telegraph found the 60+ Oyster Card will cost Transport for London £135 million this year – more than double the £60 million it cost in 2016. That figure is expected to rocket to £185 million by 2027.
Meanwhile, the Freedom Pass – which allows unlimited travel for over-66s and eligible disabled people – is already used by more than 900,000 people and costs £350 million a year. That cost is expected to hit £498 million by the end of the decade, with London's borough councils picking up the tab.
This is well ahead of the cost of fare dodging across the network which is put at £130 million annually. Critics say the system is badly targeted and increasingly being abused. According to TfL, 60% of Oyster card holders aged 60-65 are still in paid work – and one in five use it to commute.
That's despite the fact that workers in this age group earn an average of £42,000 a year – nearly double the £24,000 earned by people in their early twenties. Reem Ibrahim, from the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: 'It is difficult to justify a system where the wealthiest age group in the country is having their travel funded by taxpayers.
'The 60+ Oyster card and Freedom Pass schemes are financially unsustainable, and are not targeted to those genuinely in need of support. We urgently need a more targeted approach, rather than entrenching an unfair and costly system.'
Liz Emerson, of the Intergenerational Foundation, added: 'At the very least, the Freedom Pass should be aligned with the state pension age. It's a perfect example of intergenerational unfairness at work with younger workers having to subsidise their older colleagues' free travel to work.'
The 60+ Oyster Card was introduced by then-Mayor Boris Johnson in 2012. It is currently funded through Sadiq Khan's mayoral precept on council tax, along with money raised from the congestion charge. Once Londoners turn 66, they automatically qualify for the Freedom Pass. That £350 million cost is split between all 33 London boroughs – 28 of which were forced to hike council tax to the legal maximum of five per cent this year.
The body running the Freedom Pass scheme has warned the £498 million forecast by 2029-30 is 'unsustainable'. Despite this, Khan has - so far - resisted pressure to scale back the schemes. During the pandemic, he banned the use of both the 60+ Oyster and Freedom Pass before 9am, generating £15 million in extra fares. But he later rejected a proposal to raise the qualifying age for the 60+ card by six months each year, which would have gradually phased it out to align with the Freedom Pass age.
A spokesperson for Transport for London said: 'Both the Mayor and TfL are committed to making public transport in London as accessible, convenient, and affordable as possible. We regularly review our range of concessions to ensure that they continue to benefit Londoners, while also remaining affordable for TfL to operate.'
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