West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox has urged the Government to take action to enable pensioners and the disabled in Devon to travel before 9.30am using their concessionary bus passes. Currently, many elderly and disabled passengers receive a bus pass entitling them to free travel throughout the county. Devon County Council, in combination with the seven district authorities that constitute Devon Wide, subsidises their locally administered passes so that holders may travel before 9:30am. This is a crucial concession because bus services in the region are extremely sparse due its rural nature. Many buses to isolated rural communities only arrive before 9am and provide a vital link to public services and amenities. However, ironically, the introduction of the new national concessionary bus travel scheme will enable people from all over Britain to travel to Devon's famous tourist attractions and the county council contends that the Government has failed to allocate sufficient funding to allow it to operate the concessionary travel before 9.30am or to permit 'companion' passes for carers of disabled people without whom they often cannot use the bus. Just before the House of Commons rose for Christmas, Mr Cox wrote to Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly urging her to take action to ensure that Devon's pensioners and disabled are not worse off under the new scheme. He said: 'It is quite absurd that pensioners and disabled people living in rural communities in Torridge and West Devon could be worse off under the Government's new national scheme. 'It is vital that Ruth Kelly should act urgently to ensure that the free bus pass is not merely a hollow privilege for thousands of people living in the countryside.'
