| Location | Greater London |
|---|---|
| Technology | MIFARE / ITSO |
| Manager | London Councils |
| Validity | London Underground |
| London Buses | |
| London Overground | |
| National Rail | |
| DLR | |
| Tramlink | |
| Variants | Older people |
| Disabled | |
| Website | http://www.freedompass.org |
Freedom Pass is a concessionary travel scheme, which began in 1984, to provide free travel to residents of Greater London, England who are aged 60 and over (eligibility age increasing by phases to 65 by 2020) or who have a disability. The scheme is funded by local authorities and coordinated by London Councils. Originally the pass was a paper ticket, but since 2004 it has been encoded onto a contactless smartcard compatible with Oyster card readers.
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The scheme was created in 1984 by the Greater London Council, although there had been concessionary bus fare schemes in London before that. When the council was abolished in 1986, responsibility for the scheme passed to the London borough councils. The cost of providing the travel concession is negotiated between London Councils and the local transport operator Transport for London. It is funded through a mixture of national grant and council tax. In 2007 there was a dispute between the Mayor of London and London Councils on the negotiation process, in particular the ability for the Greater London Authority to impose a charge should no agreement be reached.[1][2]
London residents who turned 60 before 6 April 2010 are eligible for a pass. From then the qualifying age increases in a graduated way, until it becomes 65 in 2020, although the 2011 government spending review proposes speeding the process to be fully implemented by 2018.[3]
Disabled residents under 60 are assessed to determine whether their degree of disability requires a pass. In early 2010 the responsibility for judging the degree of disability passed to local councils, and there were complaints of people who had been assessed as needing a pass for many years not having their passes renewed although their condition had not improved.[4][5]
The Freedom Pass webpage[6] links to pages with information on the "national scheme statutory disabled pass" which list the seven main categories of disability set out by the Transport Act 2000 to assess eligibility for a Freedom Pass.Transport Act 2000, and the "London-only discretionary disabled pass" which may be issued by local councils at their discretion in exceptional circumstances to disabled people who do not meet the criteria.
According to section 146 of the Act "disabled person” means a person who[7]
The Freedom Pass is valid at all times on London Underground, London Overground, Bus, Tram, and Docklands Light Railway services in Greater London (until January 2009 the pass was only valid from 9:30 on weekdays, excluding morning rush-hour travel).
It is accepted at most times on many rail services in and outside Greater London that are within London fare zones 1-9.[8]
Outside Greater London the card can be used in England (but not Scotland or Wales) wherever and whenever the English National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme applies, and allows free travel on any local bus route; while some operators may extend validity, travel on working days before 9:30 and after 23:00 is not otherwise included.
New-style passes are valid for five years and can be used as soon as received[9]
On most National Rail services only passes issued because of disability rather than age can be used between 04:30 and 09:30 on working days.[10]
The Freedom Pass is not valid even for local travel on many longer distance rail services and those serving Gatwick and Heathrow airports. Up-to-date information, which changes from time to time, is available on the TfL website[11].
For travel which crosses the boundary of the area of validity of the Freedom Pass at a time and on a service where the Pass is valid, it is normally necessary to buy a ticket only for the section not covered by the Pass, either from a named point within the zone of validity, or by asking for a ticket from the Freedom Pass boundary.
The freedom pass is not valid on intercity coach services.
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