Over-60s free travel costs taxpayers £100 MILLION more than fare dodgers

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Free public transport for older Londoners is costing taxpayers around £500 million a year - £100 million more than fare dodgers.
More than 1.5 million people aged 60 and above currently travel for free on London 's buses, Tubes, trains and trams thanks to two schemes: the 60+ Oyster Card for those aged 60 to 65, and the Freedom pass for those 66 and over.
But with costs rapidly rising and many users still working, critics say the benefit is becoming 'difficult' to justify.
Transport for London (TFL) is predicated to spend a staggering £135 million on the 60+ Oyster Card alone this year, up from £60 million in 2016 - and the figure is expected to hit £185 million by 2027.
Meanwhile, the Freedom Pass costs London's boroughs another £350 million annually and could reach nearly £500 million by the end of the decade, as reported by The Telegraph.
The hefty price tag has now sparked debate about whether these schemes are still fair - or sustainable.
According to TfL, 60 per cent of those using the 60+ Oyster Card are still in work, and 20 per cent use it to commute.
On average, Londoners aged 60 to 64 earn about £42,000 a year - nearly double the income of workers in their early twenties.
Critics say this shows the benefit is going to people who don't necessarily need it.
Reem Ibrahim, of 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. We urgently need a targeted approach.'
Liz Emerson, chief executive of the research charity International Foundation, called it a 'perfect example of intergenerational unfairness,' with younger workers essentially footing the bill for their older colleagues' commutes.
The Freedom Pass scheme is managed by the London boroughs, most of which raised council tax by the maximum 5 per cent this year.
The body that it on behalf of the boroughs has warned the the scheme will soon become 'unsustainable.'
The 60+ Oyster Card was introduced by then-Mayor Boris Johnson in 2012, and is funded through council tax and the congestion charge.
Once users celebrate their 66th birthday, they automatically move onto the Freedom Pass - unless they have a disability, in which case they may qualify earlier.
During the pandemic, Mayor Sadiq Khan paused the use of these passes before 9am to save money - a move that generated an extra £15 million in fares.
However, he rejected a proposal to gradually raise the age limit for the 60+ card in line with the state pension age.
A TfL spokesperson told the Telegraph: '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.'
It comes as a report released last Wednesday found fare evasion is becoming 'normalised', with train staff telling the inquiry that they are struggling to cope with 'aggressive' passengers who refuse to buy tickets.
Travellers are using 'a range of techniques to persistently' underpay or avoid paying and see it as a 'victimless crime ', according to the Office of Road and Rail (ORR).
It found fare evasion is a mounting problem now costing taxpayers £400million a year which is resulting in higher fares and less investment cash to improve services.