DEPARTMENT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
PROVISION OF CONCESSIONARY BUS PASSES FOR JERSEY RESIDENTS WITH A
PRESCRIBED LONG-TERM DISABILITY WHICH PREVENTS THEM FROM BEING ABLE
TO DRIVE
Purpose of the report
To outline the proposal to provide concessionary bus passes for people with a prescribed long-term disability which prevents them from being able to drive, and seek the support of the Minister for Infrastructure.
Background
In February 2016 the Council of Ministers unanimously supported P140/2015 which was also accepted and agreed by the States Assembly:
(a) that individuals below pensionable age with a disability which prevents them from being able to drive should be entitled to a concessionary bus pass;
(b) to request the Minister for Transport and Technical Services to enter into formal discussions with Liberty Bus for the provision of concessionary bus passes for those with a prescribed disability which prevents them from being able to drive, and to bring forward proposals to the States no later than 1st September 2016 detailing both the potential cost implications and the criteria which applicants would have to meet in order to access this service.
This report sets out the details of that proposed bus pass scheme including the financial implications. The Medium Term Financial Plan Addition (MTFP2), to be debated by the States Assembly in September 2016, sets out the associated funding mechanism for the proposed scheme.
Overview of the pilot scheme
Financial and residential criteria
A bus pass for Jersey residents with a disability[1] will be introduced providing bus travel to anyone aged 5 or above who meets the qualifying criteria, but who is not entitled to an older person’s pass[2]. In line with the current requirements for the older persons’ bus pass scheme, entitlement to the pass will not be means-tested.
A Jersey resident with a disability wishing to apply for the pass will need to be ordinarily resident in Jersey and will need to provide evidence that they are resident in Jersey[3]. There will be a qualifying period of residency of five years in relation to the pass and applicants will also be required to provide evidence of this when applying.
Mobility criteria
P140/2015 focused on people with “….a prescribed disability which prevents them from being able to drive.” Criteria for bus passes in other jurisdictions predominately focus on lack of mobility as opposed to lack of ability to drive (i.e. a person gets a bus pass because they are unable to walk/it is not safe for them to walk long distances, as opposed to the fact that they cannot drive those distances). Whilst these schemes may have a common focus – i.e. to support people’s mobility - there is nevertheless significant variations between different jurisdictions, including between the English and Welsh criteria and the Scottish criteria i.e. there is no self-evident best practice model to adopt.
The proposed Jersey criteria is a combination of different UK criteria. The scheme will aim to target individuals with impairments or conditions which prevent them from driving.
Those criteria are:
Sight impaired and severely sight impaired, such that the condition prevents them from driving |
Severely or profoundly deaf, to the extent that the condition prevents them from driving |
In receipt of Mobility component and/or long-term care benefit and/or personal care level 3 |
Mental illness or personality disorder to a degree that prevents them from driving |
A learning disability to a degree that prevents them from driving |
Progressive degenerative condition, which prevents them from driving |
Would be refused a licence to drive or licence has been withdrawn based on medical grounds |
Walking difficulties to a degree that impacts mobility and ability to drive |
Seizures causing loss of consciousness or altered consciousness (including epilepsy) |
These criteria may need to be amended once there is sufficient data relating to uptake and usage, in order to ensure that they are targeting the right groups of people. Hence, it is proposed that this scheme is a pilot scheme which will run from early 2017 to the end of 2019. It will allow the States to determine, at the end of that period, whether it should continue in its current form or in an amended form. This determination will be based on evidence of use and evidence of impact.
Assessment of mobility criteria
There is a myriad of different models which can be used to assess whether an individual is eligible for a bus pass. None are perfect because they are striving to strike a balance between a straightforward assessment process - which is easy for applicants - and managing the risk that a small number of people may be issued bus passes even though they are not the intended beneficiaries.
It is proposed that the Jersey pilot scheme takes a light touch approach and that there will be a requirement for authorisation by an appropriate healthcare professional. It is not envisaged that the bus pass for Jersey residents with a disability will become a statutory entitlement at this stage. The scheme will not include a companion pass at this stage, although companion passes will be considered as part of the review in 2019.
The overhead costs associated with administration will be, in part, met by the income raised from a bus pass administration fee. It is proposed that an administration fee of £15 will be charged for each card issued. The fee, which would be paid on application to the bus operator, is intended to make a small contribution to the costs incurred in relation to administration. By setting the fee at this level it is believed that it will not discourage genuine applicants and potential users of the service, but it could potentially discourage those who have no real intention of using the pass from applying for the pass, as the same level of administrative cost is incurred regardless of whether it is used.
There is currently no administration fee associated with the older person’s bus pass, other than a £5 replacement fee in the event that the card is lost or damaged. However there are a range of fees charged in relation to other services, including:
- Blue Badge application fee - £15
- Driving licence application fee - £15 to £40
- Passport application fee - £72.50 to £111
- Registration card: recently arrived licenced or registered resident - £75
The proposed fee for a bus pass for Jersey residents with a disability is therefore consistent with that charged for the Blue Badge.
Review of scheme
The scheme will be a pilot scheme only. It is envisaged that the pass will be introduced in the early part of 2017 and will be valid until the end of 2019, to coincide with the end of the period covered by the MTFP2. Up to £600,000 per year of the financial return from the Jersey Car Parking trading operation will be passed to the revenue budget of the Department for Infrastructure in order to fund the bus pass and associated improvements that support Jersey residents with a disability to travel by bus.
Passes issued under the scheme will be valid from the day of issue until the last day of 2019. Renewal will be subject to any changes to the criteria or the operation of the scheme that are brought forward as a result of the review.
In early 2019, after approximately two years, there will be a review of the pass in order to assess the extent to which it is meeting the transport needs of Jersey residents with a disability. Usage data from the first two years will be used to assess and review a range of aspects, including but not limited to:
(a) the access criteria to ensure they include the right groups of people;
(b) whether the assessment of eligibility appropriately balances risk of abuse against cost efficiency;
(c) whether means-testing should be introduced;
(d) whether the application fee should be adjusted;
(e) the potential introduction of a single mobility card providing concessionary travel both to older Jersey residents and to those with a disability;
(f) the feasibility of introducing a companion pass;
(g) whether available monies might be better invested in a transport grant fund, providing small grants to Jersey residents with a disability so they may purchase their own transport solution (which may be an unlimited travel bus pass).
As the MTFP2 decision only relates to funding during the MTFP2 period, the States will have to consider funding arrangements for 2020 and beyond. It will need to be made very clear to individuals applying for a pass that it is a pilot scheme which may not continue in its current form.
Uptake, usage and costs
It is not possible to accurately calculate the costs of introducing a bus pass for Jersey residents with a disability preventing them from driving, as there is limited comparable data available from other jurisdictions. Complicating factors in calculating the costs include:
(a) the practice of issuing of passes varies between different regions and bus operators in the UK. For example, in some regions a 65-year-old with mobility problems may be issued an older person’s pass, in other regions they may be issued a disabled person’s pass[4];
(b) in some regions data relating to disabled persons’ passes include companion passes, in others it does not, and this data cannot be separated out for comparative purposes;
(c) differences in eligibility criteria in different jurisdictions, including between England & Wales and Scotland, will have an impact on the number of eligible people;
(d) uptake and usage varies significantly between rural and urban areas, and is affected by a broad range of variables such as levels of car ownership, cost and availability of parking, availability of public transport options.
To try and provide some indication of the cost of introducing a bus pass for Jersey residents with a disability which prevents them from driving, a range of estimates have been developed based on the percentage uptake amongst the eligible population in England and Scotland, plus the ratio of disabled persons’ passes to older persons’ passes in England and Scotland. Based on these calculations it is estimated that a bus pass for Jersey residents with a disability could therefore cost £334,927 to £915,561 per year.
This is based on a £1.50 per journey reimbursement to the bus operator, an estimated average of 173 journeys per pass per year, and an uptake issue rate of 1,300 to 3,500 bus passes. The estimate of 173 journeys per pass per year is based on UK data. The £1.50 per journey reimbursement payment represents the costs that Department for Infrastructure calculates that it will incur whenever a concessionary bus pass issued under the proposed scheme is used. The value of the benefit per pass is therefore £260 per year.
£915,561 is the upper end of the scale and, given that it is based on UK data which includes a proportion of companion travel, there is a low likelihood of the actual annual cost reaching that level. The differences in availability of public transport between Jersey and the UK mean that it is reasonable to assume the upper end of costs is unlikely to be incurred. For this reason, the MTFP2 proposed that only £600,000 per year of Jersey Car Parking trading operation should be passed to Department for Infrastructure for the costs of the scheme.
Delivering benefits beyond bus travel
The proposed bus pass scheme will benefit a significant number of Jersey residents with a disability. However it will not necessarily benefit those who may wish to travel by bus but are unable to get to or from accessible bus stops, or who find it difficult to communicate with bus drivers and other passengers. It is therefore proposed that, if uptake and usage of the bus pass is lower than estimated, any remaining monies from the £600,000 could be used to:
(a) undertake a comprehensive disability audit of all bus stops in Jersey and, based on the findings of that audit, invest in improvements such as footpath access and crossing improvements, dropped kerbs and enhanced bus stop facilities in order that they are more accessible to those with a disability;
(b) introduce a “communication card” for Jersey residents and visitors with a disability in order that holders can communicate their support needs to bus drivers, and others including taxi drivers, shop staff and other service providers;
(c) invest in other transport-related initiatives which benefit Jersey residents with a disability, such as travel training, travel buddies and volunteer driver schemes;
Points (a) to (c) above have been identified as key priorities by Jersey residents with a disability involved in the development of the Chief Minister’s Office-led disability strategy.
Companion passes
Some people with disabilities are unable to travel by bus without the support of a companion. Consideration has therefore been given to the potential introduction of companion bus passes in Jersey. Companion travel is available in Scotland and some, but not all, bus authority areas in England and Wales. Under the UK schemes, a companion can travel for no extra cost but only when they are with the concessionary pass holder (i.e. two people can travel for no charge on a single disabled person’s pass).
Accurately assessing eligibility to companion passes is difficult. In the UK, eligibility is usually linked to receipt of certain types of benefits but this cannot be replicated in Jersey due to the differences in our benefits system. If companion travel is offered under the bus pass scheme for Jersey residents with a disability, this would create an anomaly with the older persons’ pass which does not have a connected companion pass scheme, as it is known that many older persons would benefit from companion travel.
It is therefore recommended that companion travel is not introduced at this point. This should be reviewed at the end of 2019.
Financial and resource implications (summary)
| Cost over 3 years | Income over 3 years (£600k per year from Jersey Car Parks trading operation) | Difference between cost and income over 3 year period |
Lower end | £1,071,876 | £1,800,000 | £728,124 |
Upper end | £2,914,443 | £1,800,000 | -£1,114,443 |
Within the MTFP2, it is proposed that a figure of £600,000 per year (2017 – 2019) of the financial return from the Jersey Car Parking trading operation be passed to the revenue budget of the Department for Infrastructure in order to fund the bus pass scheme and associated improvements that support Jersey residents with a disability to travel by bus.
If uptake and usage is at the lower end of estimates, the cost of the scheme minus the income from the application fee and the car parking trading operation will allow approximately £730,000 to be invested in initiatives designed to enhance the accessibility of the bus network, as set out in “Delivering benefits beyond bus travel” above.
If uptake and usage is at the upper end of estimates, the deficit incurred by Department for Infrastructure over the three-year period will be approximately £1.11m, but as stated above, it is considered unlikely that uptake and usage levels will be at the higher end of estimates.
Recommendation
The Minister is recommended to agree that the scheme be introduced as outlined above, depending on funding being made available through the MTFP2.
Reason(s) for Decision
Following the States’ unanimous adoption of P.140/2015, it is proposed to introduce a pilot concessionary travel facility for Jersey residents with a prescribed long-term disability which prevents them from being able to drive, depending on funding being allocated as recommended within and for the period of the Medium Term Financial Plan Addition. The proposed funding is to be made available from the Car Parks Trading Fund, which is consistent with the remit of the Fund agreed by the States with the adoption of the proposition Car Parking Charges: allocation of additional income to the funding of transport initiatives (P.147/2004).
Action Required
Officers to discuss and agree with LibertyBus the appropriate application and administration procedures, and confirm a date on which the scheme will be introduced.
Written by: | Public Transport Planner |
Approved by: | Director of Transport |
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