The Anonymous Widower

Should London’s Freedom Pass Be Extended?

As someone who qualifies for a Freedom Pass, which gives me free travel all over London, I take it very seriously and I also realise how much the 1.5 million holders of the cards cost London and its taxpayers.

Since it was created in 1973, London has grown and with Crossrail further extending the tentacles of London’s trains, it must be part of planners’ thinking to extend the areas where residents qualify and the area where the card could be used.

It has been said that you will be able to use Freedom Passes to get to Heathrow on Crossrail, so what about the other termini at Reading and Shenfield?

There are a lot of questions, if the pass is to be extended.

I think cost will determine what will happen. Especially, as I suspect there are two main groups of Freedom Pass holders.

1. Those like me, who use the pass with gusto and enthusiasm to explore this wonderful city.

2. Those who use it locally on the buses and perhaps occasionally on the Underground.

Transport for London know the pattern and how much it would cost to extend the system.

But if I was the Mayor of London, I’d possibly look for some radical idea.

Let’s take the case of someone living in Birmingham say, who is over 60 and has the UK-wide bus pass and a Senior Railcard. At present they can associate their Senior Railcard with an Oyster card, so they get one-third discounts on all Underground and rail travel in the London area. But as London now embraces using bank cards as tickets on the whole transport system, surely the time will come when those with railcards can associate them with their bank card.

You could argue that allowing this link-up between bank cards and railcards will inevitably happen! Especially, if the banks promote it, as they have with Fare Free Fridays.

Surely, there is scope for link ups with other conurbations, so that visitors can get appropriate discounts on their travels. After all, how much does a visitor from London spend on a day-trip to Manchester or Leeds?

Would they also be more likely to go, if they knew that the ticketing was just using an appropriate bank card, that got them a discount on the local trams and trains?

I am going to Bolton on Saturday to see Ipswich. As I want to see how Posh is doing, I’ll have to buy a couple of extra tickets! Why can’t I just touch in with a contactless bank card?

December 7, 2014 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Contactless Ticketing, Freedom Pass