Minister’s Letter Shows Torbay is Paying Over the Odds for Bus Passes

As local authorities across the country prepare for the Government’s review of funding for concessionary bus passes, correspondence from the Department of Transport to Torbay MP Adrian Sanders has highlighted a serious discrepancy between the amount of money Torbay Council is paying to bus companies compared to what other authorities are paying.

While commercial sensitivity has prevented the Government revealing the names of the councils, figures released to Mr Sanders highlight that the reimbursement rate-the percentage of the average fare paid for each concessionary journey-ranges between 36% and 63%, far below the 72% Torbay Council is currently paying.

This could equate to well over a million pounds being spent unnecessarily by the council.

Adrian said: “Obviously some bus companies have higher costs than others but the extremely high price Torbay is paying for its concessionary scheme cannot be explained solely by the higher level of demand we would see in an area with many older residents.”

Comments

[Adrian]

Dear Mr Lightowlers,

Thank you for your comment.

Firstly, please be assured that I will be raising this most forcefully with the Mayor. In my meetings with the Transport Minister, he made it clear that Torbay had set their reimbursement rate far too high. The rate is higher in areas where there are more elderly people simply because the bus companies are not carrying full fare customers. As you say, this is quite often made up by the huge increase in demand from the over 60s produced by free travel.

The Government does not collect all of the council’s reimbursement rates, only those subject to appeals in court, which may well be the reason behind the secrecy.

I do feel that it is in the public interest to have this information-it can technically be worked out from information in the public domain but this would be a time consuming procedure if all councils are to be compared.

Please be assured that I will continue to do all I can on this issue and if you have any further concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Adrian Sanders MP

[Paul Lightowlers]

Dear Adrian Sanders MP

Can I ask why commercial sensitivity has prevented the Government from revealing full details of this potential "nose in the trough" activity please?

If the "deal" is that the companies should neither lose nor gain from this scheme, then what is there to hide? This is exactly what the FOI Act is there for - I don't think a request will fail the public interest test!

On the same subject, and specific to Torbay, someone might like to ask Stagecoach why the operate double decker and large single decker buses on virtually all of their routes; Bayline, as you know, used minibuses very successfully. One might be inclined to think that it might have something to do with making a service look more expensive than it is - but I'm not an expert.

Also, rambling on - if Torbay has more over 60s than most places surely with economies of scale the average price for a journey in the scheme should be less, not more.

I think you need to press Mr Bye more firmly on this one.

Yours faithfully

Mr P. Lightowlers

Torquay