CHANGES GO-AHEAD TO EARLY FREE BUS TRAVEL IN CUMBRIA
By Julian Whittle
Last updated at 13:10, Thursday, 31 March 2011
Changes to concessionary bus fares in Cumbria tomorrow will end free travel before 9.30am on weekdays.
A uniform concessionary fares scheme will apply across the county allowing free travel between 9.30am and 11pm on Mondays to Fridays and all day at weekends.
These restrictions apply already in Allerdale and Copeland.
But in Carlisle and Eden pensioners and other concessions have been able to use their NoWcards at any time.
The change will hit pass holders who work or volunteer and use early morning buses to commute.
It will also hit rural areas where the only bus to Carlisle or Penrith leaves before 9.30am.
This is the case in Castle Carrock, Talkin, Walton, Laversdale, Hethersgill and Irthington, and many villages in the Eden Valley served by Fellrunner volunteer minibuses.
Phyllis Francis, 67, of Castle Carrock, has called for her twice-a-week bus to run later so she can travel free.
She said: “We will find ourselves in a situation where some people on the bus have paid and others have not. It is ridiculous. We shouldn’t have to pay when others haven’t.”
Cumbria County Council has taken over responsibility for concessionary fares from the district councils.
It says that a £1.2m cut in government funding has forced it to end free travel before 9.30am.
But the council has ruled out changing the times of its subsidised rural buses as Mrs Francis suggested.
A spokesman said: “If we did start altering timetables to bring the times of certain services forward, we’d be in a position where we were paying extra money when we are required to make savings.”
The Fellrunner has also ruled out changes to times.
Instead, it will charge a flat fare of £1.50 to concessions who travel before 9.30am.
Stagecoach, however, is altering the 9am Carlisle-Keswick departure on service 554, which is popular for day trips to the Lake District. It will leave after 9.30am from April 11.
The company can do this because the 554 is run without a subsidy.
Other routes affected, such as the 97 from Castle Carrock, are under contract to the county council.
Stagecoach cannot alter times unless the council asks it to. In future, applications for NoW cards and renewals will be handled by libraries in Carlisle, Penrith, Workington, Whitehaven, Kendal and Barrow, instead of council offices.
There are 94,000 NoW card holders in Cumbria.
The council is also raising fares on subsidised routes by 10 per cent from tomorrow.
Non-subsidised services run by Stagecoach and Reays’ City Hopper in Carlisle are not affected.
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