Public debate over restricting the Freedom Pass has sparked intergenerational tensions, but focusing on cost misses the bigger questions, says Councillor Paul Donovan
There has been much public debate about the suggestion that there should be restrictions placed on the Older Person’s Freedom Pass. A public spat saw TV presenter Kirsty Allsop taking issue with author Michael Rosen over whether someone as wealthy as him needed free travel.
There are two forms of free travel for the over-60s. The Oyster 60-plus card is available once someone reaches 60. It gives free travel on buses and trains and is funded by TFL. This card runs until state retirement age (currently 66), when an Older Person’s Freedom Pass takes over.
The Freedom Pass is funded by London Councils – which represents London’s 32 boroughs and the City of London – covering trains in London and buses across the country. It was this card that London Councils were looking to review.
That review began in January, quickly drawing a 60,000 signature petition opposed to change. The review was prefaced on rising costs that saw the Freedom Passes costing £333m last year and predicted to rise to £372m for 2026/27.
A rancorous debate quickly developed into an attack on the elderly. BBC London didn’t waste the opportunity to contextualise the story in terms of intergenerational conflict. This involved getting younger people asking why the elderly are getting such a benefit while they have to pay full rate for increasingly expensive public transport.
Leaving aside that elderly people have earned such rights by a lifetime of work and service, the bigger question surely is why cannot the younger group also have free travel. Indeed, everyone should be eligible. This direction of travel would couch the argument in terms of reducing inequality and improving the environment rather than stoking intergenerational resentments. In a country as rich as the UK, such things should be possible.
Cheap or free travel really is a no-brainer. It enables people to get out to visit loved ones as well as attending and spending at a variety of businesses across the capital.
There are also pluses for people’s mental and physical health that are not always easily quantifiable in the land of bottom-line economics. Add in the fact train and bus passenger numbers are still below pre-Covid levels, why would anyone want to restrict incentives to get people using public transport?
Fortunately, it would seem plans to cut the Freedom Pass have receded. However, the argument may return in an effort to chip away at another hard-earned benefit on the altar of austerity. Everyone should be prepared.
For more information on the Freedom Pass, visit freedompass.org
