GMPTE says no problems with bus passes

GMPTE Station Sign Post

Following Simon Danczuk's, Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, criticism citing an unprecedented number of problems around elderly people’s bus passes, 
a  spokesperson for GMPTE said: “We have now issued more than 400,000 new smartcard-style National Travel Passes and are still receiving around 2,000 applications every week. We are able to process these as soon as they arrive as there is no backlog.

“We have a dedicated team working on nothing but these applications as we want to make sure that everyone gets their pass as soon as possible. A straightforward application should be processed in around three weeks – as long as the form is filled in correctly and we have the documents we need.

“If people have applied for a pass more than two months ago and not yet received it – and haven’t heard from us – then we ask that they reapply as soon as possible.

“The new pass came in at the start of April and while people have been able to continue using their old passes for travel on buses, trains and trams within Greater Manchester up until now, they will not be able to after 30 September.”

Anyone aged over 60 who has not yet applied for a travel pass should drop into their local Travelshop. Applicants must take a recent colour passport-style photograph, and proof of their date of birth and address. Staff can verify people’s age from their ID documents there and then and help them to complete a form correctly.

Alternatively GMPTE can send application forms to people by post:

Email: passes2008@gmpte.gov.uk

Tel: 0161 244 1050

Postal applications should include photocopies of ID documents, not originals.