{"id":353751,"date":"2026-01-05T18:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T18:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/353751\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T18:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T18:28:19","slug":"london-pensioners-could-lose-ticket-to-ride-the-tube-for-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/353751\/","title":{"rendered":"London pensioners could lose ticket to ride the Tube for free"},"content":{"rendered":"

London pensioners have long enjoyed free travel across the whole of the city\u2019s transport network, including the Underground and Overground rail services, in contrast to much of the rest of the country. <\/p>\n

However, London Councils, the umbrella body that administers the scheme on behalf of the local authorities for the capital\u2019s 32 boroughs and the City of London, is launching a review, which could recommend that free travel for Londoners aged 66 and above be restricted solely to bus services. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Should over-60s still get free travel?<\/a><\/p>\n

The annual cost of the scheme is expected to increase by more than 10 per cent this year to \u00a3372 million. The scheme is ultimately paid for by taxpayers in local authorities, and the payments effectively offer compensation to operators, including Transport for London, as well as bus and rail concession operators. <\/p>\n

The increased bill comes at the same time as London\u2019s local authorities face a spending squeeze in other areas, from social care to special needs provision. <\/p>\n

In much of the rest of the country, the Freedom Pass allows Britons aged 66 and older to access free off-peak bus travel. In London, that travel concession is extended to all forms of available travel. <\/p>\n

\"Hand<\/p>\n

Each Freedom Pass is issued by a London borough<\/p>\n

RICHARD BAKER\/ALAMY<\/p>\n

Stephen Boon, the chief operating officer at London Councils, told a pre-Christmas meeting that the scheme\u2019s costs would be reduced to \u00a3224 million per year if London\u2019s Freedom Pass entitlements were reduced solely to bus services. <\/p>\n

Increased use of the network by those using a Freedom Pass has driven costs, as has a change to the way Elizabeth Line journeys are calculated. For the first time this year, TfL will also charge London Councils for the cost of Oyster cards that the Freedom Pass benefits are attached to. That amounts to \u00a31.50 per card multiplied by the anticipated number of passes, nearly 400,000. <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Elizabeth Line opened in 2022<\/p>\n

RICHARD BAKER\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

In agenda papers for a meeting of London Councils\u2019 transport and environment committee, Boon said that the Society of London Treasurers \u2014 a grouping of the London boroughs\u2019 chief financial officers \u2014 had \u201cexpressed concern about the growing cost of the Freedom Pass scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boon said his officers \u201cwill continue to work \u2026 to identify what other policy options might be used to control the cost of the scheme in future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story was first reported by the Evening Standard<\/a>. Any changes to the eligibility criteria would require parliament to make amends to the Greater London Assembly Act 1999. <\/p>\n

Alexander Ehmann, a member of the transport and environment committee and a Liberal Democrat councillor in Richmond, described \u201cthe cost of the Freedom Pass [as] a ticking time bomb for London local authorities. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe spiralling costs come at a time where councils such as Richmond are already set to be hobbled by \u00a330 million plus in year cuts, as part of the ironically named \u2018fair funding reforms\u2019 of the Labour government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin a handful of years, the bill for London local authorities will be an unsustainable half a billion pounds, so proper financial support from the government is urgent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local authorities in the capital are set to be hit by changes to funding, and many wealthier areas, such as Richmond, are anticipating substantial cuts. <\/p>\n

Residents of Liverpool can use their Freedom Pass to use trains, whereas in Manchester older residents can choose to pay an extra \u00a310 for access to trams and trains within the city. <\/p>\n

The Freedom Pass is different from the 60+ London Oyster card, which also allows free travel across the network in off-peak hours. This card is administered and \u201cfunded\u201d by TfL, though technically TfL writes off the cost as revenue lost. In the past year, TfL missed out on \u00a3125 million worth of revenue from 60 to 65-year-olds. The cost is expected to increase to \u00a3180 million by 2027. <\/p>\n

The 60+ card was introduced by Boris Johnson<\/a> during his term as mayor, when he moved London away from the rest of the country\u2019s free travel scheme, which was pegged to pension age. Sir Sadiq Khan has extended the scheme. <\/p>\n

Last year a TfL spokesman said: \u201cWe regularly review our range of concessions to ensure that they continue to benefit Londoners, while also remaining affordable for TfL to operate. There are no plans to discontinue the 60+ Oyster photocard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London pensioners have long enjoyed free travel across the whole of the city\u2019s transport network, including the Underground…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-353751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}