£10 tram and train fee for Greater Manchester pensioners

Metrolink

Pensioners across Greater Manchester, who currently receive free off-peak travel on public transport across the region, will have to pay an annual fee under new proposals.

Under new plans by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, a £10 annual charge will be introduced from 2020 to make all its concessionary travel schemes ‘more consistent’.

Currently, the combined authority charges a £10 fee for three concessionary rates:

• Our Pass, which begins in September 2019, will provide all 16-18 year olds who live in Greater Manchester to get free bus travel and half-price off peak travel on Metrolink
• igo, which allows all Greater Manchester residents and schoolchildren (aged 11-16) to pay the child fare on bus and Metrolink across the region
• Women’s Concessionary Travel Pass, providing free off-peak bus, tram and train travel to help women born between 6 October 1953 and 5 November 1954 who were affected by the change to pension age through the 2011 Pensions Act

Free bus travel will still be available for all pensioners, and there will continue to be no costs associated with travel passes for disabled people.

Councillor Allen Brett, leader of Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Public transport can be a lifeline for people, and we want to ensure as many people as possible can access it.

“For less than £1 a month, older people can continue to enjoy free bus, train and tram travel right across the Greater Manchester region, which is a pretty good deal.”

A spokesperson for TfGM added: “The Women’s Concessionary Travel Pass caters specifically to women who were most affected by the change to the state pension age in 2011, and who because of the change have to wait longer to receive their pension.

“The pass, which entitles holders to free off-peak bus travel on weekdays and all day at weekends, is a way of helping those women who were given very little notice that the change was going to happen.

“The benefit provided by the scheme does not subject men to any disadvantage, as it is not something that men of the same age category would have expected to have received.”