Concessionary bus fares for the elderly and disabled

What is the scheme?

We provide financial support to enable local authorities in Wales to provide free travel on registered local bus services for residents of Wales aged over 60 years and disabled of any age. The support also provides free travel on local buses by companions to disabled persons.

Provision also exists to allow those persons eligible for a bus pass but unable to use a bus because of a disability, to be able to receive passes for other more accessible forms of transport. Local Authorities have discretion to issue travel tokens to enable disabled concessionary bus pass holders to use other forms of transport.

How do I apply for a pass?

For information about free bus travel contact your Local Authority. Community Transport Concessionary Fares Initiative Pilot Scheme for Severely Disabled and socially disadvantaged .

Do I qualify for the Elderly and Disabled concessionary fares scheme?

You should qualify for the scheme if you are:

• Resident in Wales (this will have to be proved through documents that show responsibility for expenditure for example :-Council tax, rent, water rates, utility bills From a gas or electric company, benefit documents, bank statements
• Meet the age qualification criteria - this will have to be proved through production of a birth certificate or a passport
• Meet the disability qualification below

Categories of disabled persons.

The categories of disabled person include any person who:

1. Is blind or partially sighted: (Local Authorities may - where a person is not on the local authority blind and partially sighted register - require evidence that the applicant is registrable as blind or partially sighted from an eye specialist (e.g. an optometrist).)
2. Is profoundly or severely deaf: (Local authorities may where appropriate, require applicants to show evidence of registration before issuing a permit, or evidence that they are registrable (e.g. an audiological report, or a report from an aural specialist).)
3. Is without speech: (This category would not, in the Welsh Government’s opinion, cover people  who are able to communicate orally but whose speech may be slow or difficult to understand because, for example, of a severe stammer. In considering an application on these grounds, the local authority may reasonably seek medical evidence to support the application in appropriate cases.
4. Has a disability, or has suffered an injury, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to walk: (Evidence of eligibility under this definition could be supported by: - Higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance  (DLA), War pensioners mobility supplement. The award of this benefit must have been for at least 12 months)
5. does not have arms or has long-term loss of the use of both arms: (This category includes upper limb double amputees and those with congenital absence of both upper limbs. This category also covers people with deformity of both arms and people who have both arms if in either case they are unable to use them to carry out day to day tasks - (A Local Authority should normally seek independent medical evidence to support the application.)) 
6. has a learning disability, that is, a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind which includes significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning: (These learning disabilities must have started before adulthood and have a lasting effect on development. The person should be able to qualify for  specialist services and he or she may have had special educational provision. In a case where there has been no previous contact with specialist services, a local authority should normally seek independent medical advice, or check any register of people with learning disabilities that might be held by the Social Services Department of the applicant’s local council.)
7. would, if he or she applied for the grant of a licence to drive a motor vehicle under Part III of the Road Traffic Act 1988, have his or her application refused pursuant to section 92 of the Act (physical fitness) otherwise than on the ground of persistent misuse of drugs or alcohol: (Those who are currently barred from holding a licence are people with:

8. • Epilepsy (unless it is of a type which does not pose a danger)
   • Severe mental disorder
   • Liability to sudden attacks of giddiness or fainting (whether as a result of cardiac disorder or otherwise)
   • Inability to read a registration plate in good light at 20.5 metres (with lenses if worn)
   • Other disabilities which are likely to cause the driving of vehicles by them to be a source of danger to the public
     

9. Any person with a cardiac, locomotor, renal or neurological disorder might qualify (the latter including those suffering from pre-senile dementia)
10. Where there is doubt about whether someone would be refused a driving licence, the local authority would seek independent medical advice.

Smartcards

1. On behalf of the Welsh Government, local authorities are close to completing the issue of Smartcards to almost 600,000 elderly or disabled people in Wales eligible for free concessionary travel on buses.
   
2. Community Transport Concessionary Fares Initiative Pilot Scheme for Severely Disabled and socially disadvantaged.