Should the Transport for London 60+ Oyster photocard survive?

Should the Transport for London 60+ Oyster photocard survive?

I am 62 years-old and therefore the lucky holder of a Transport for London 60+ Oyster photocard. This means I can use most public transport in the capital for free, even though the terms of the first government bailout of TfL in May mean I can longer do so before 9:00 am.

Even as home-based worker of long standing who, in normal times, travels around the city only about three times a week, it is a welcome concession, especially as my income since becoming a (very, very) small businessman three years ago has dropped substantially.

That said, I feel a bit bad about having a 60+ Oyster photocard. Although my income is modest, I am not poor. Given the Covid-ravaged state of TfL’s finances, can the cost of my 60+ card be defended? Has this particular concession as whole really ever been acceptable?

First, let’s define exactly what the 60+ Oyster photocard is. Crucially, it is not the same thing as the Older Person’s Freedom Pass, which also enables free travel on London public transport (as well as free bus travel nationally). However, the two different cards are related in the sense that the former was created in 2012 as a result of changes to eligibility for the latter.

The Freedom Pass, as it is usually simply known (though there are other kinds that aren’t for older people), has been around since 1973. It was created by the Greater London Council. After that body’s abolition in 1986 it passed into the hands of London’s boroughs, though the age at which people qualify for it is set by the government. The cost of the scheme is now negotiated between TfL, rail companies and London Councils, which also administers it.

Londoners used to become entitled to a Freedom Pass on reaching the age of 60, but that changed in 2010. The government decided to start gradually raising the age at which people qualified for it, in tandem with changes to the state pension age. That meant Londoners turning 60 would have to wait a year longer to get their Freedom Pass and that others a little younger would have to wait still longer in the future.

London’s Mayor during that time was Boris Johnson. In May 2012, he won a second term, having promised those Londoners not getting a Freedom Pass until they were older than had previously been the case that he would find his own way to restore the old arrangement. On 1 October 2012, the 60+ Oyster photocard was announced and came into effect the following month.

There is, of course, a pungent irony in the fact that Prime Minister Johnson’s government is now spinning a crafty and misleading yarn that the 60+ pass, like free travel for under-18s, is somehow an indulgence Londoners enjoy at the expense of taxpayers in the rest of the country. But that bit of fibbing is separate from the question of whether the existence of the 60+ pass is still, or ever was, really justified.

Its creation by Mayor Johnson seems unlikely to be unrelated to the fact that Londoners of 60 years and over are the age group most likely to vote Conservative. It was also done in the full knowledge that its cost to TfL would rise and keep on rising beyond the end of that second term in May 2016. Eligibility for the Freedom Pass is now 66, matching that the current state pension age. Hence, the TfL 60+ card is presently available to all Londoners aged 60 to 65, after which they must apply for a Freedom Pass instead.

In February 2012, prior to the mayoral election in May of that year, a discussion note was circulated among City Hall and TfL decision-makers which set out Johnson’s options for creating his and TfL’s own free travel pass to “bridge the gap between the age 60 or 61 and the rising age of entitlement to the Freedom Pass” and what it would cost in terms of foregone revenue.

The note recognised that the train operating companies, which would have to be part of the new scheme if its benefits were to replicate those of the Freedom Pass, “would probably be unwilling to participate without significant compensation for the additional overcrowding they would claim would arise given that many of those aged just over 60 will still be in employment and travelling in the peak [travel hours]”.

The estimate was that if eligibility for the new TfL pass was set at 60 and introduced in September 2012 (two months earlier than turned out to be the case), it would cost TfL £7 million in the first year, rising to £19 million in 2013/14 and onwards and upwards to £85 million in 2019/20 as the age range to be spanned before Freedom Pass entitlement was reached grew wider. It would all add up to a cumulative loss of £342 million over seven years (see below).

Screenshot 2020 12 20 at 19.28.34

Recent TfL business plans have stated the cost to have turned out to be higher: £100 million in 2018/19 compared with the £71 million projected back in 2012 (a full set of those figures, plus the concession’s anticipated future costs as of March this year, are set out in the answer to a question by Caroline Pidgeon AM here).

How much is £100 million a year or so in the greater financial scheme of things? TfL’s business plan for 2019/20, the year before the pandemic, put its income at £10 billion, with half of it coming from fares (page 13). Looked at that way, £100 million or so foregone out of around £5 billion seems quite small beer.

That said, should preserving it – perhaps through a special mayoral Council Tax, perhaps from the recently increased income from the Congestion Charge, as suggested in the latest bailout settlement – be a priority for Sadiq Khan? During August and September of 2019, there were 381,521 active 60+ Oyster cards. How many of those people really need it, especially in view of TfL’s huge financial difficulties? For low-paid workers in poor households who commute every day, it is surely invaluable. But though I am glad of mine, I know I could manage without it.

Perhaps there is a more sophisticated way of determining who can get a 60+ Oyster card and who cannot, or could be. What we can be confident about in the short term, as the rescheduled mayoral election appears on the horizon, is that Sadiq Khan does not want to be the candidate who says he’ll do away with it, and his closest (if distant) rival, the Conservative Shaun Bailey, will be the last to advocate a measure that could alienate the older Londoners whose support he will need in order to avoid complete humiliation.

One way or another, the TfL 60+ Oyster photocard looks likely to stay for a while to come, whatever the arguments for doing away with this particular part of Boris Johnson’s London legacy.

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Categories: Analysis

15 Comments

  1. Cezary Bednarski says:

    A very useful analysis. But, the socio-economic fact is that public transport should be free at the point of use in London, as it is, for example, in Luxemburg and Tallinn, and quite a few other cites all over the world. And, now is the ideal moment for looking into this for London. In 2021 am embarking on my late life ( at 68 ) PhD in this subject.

    1. Dave Hill says:

      I think I’m right in saying that the GLC under Ken Livingstone took a serious look at making all public transport free. Not sure the government would be too keen at the moment though!

      1. Rob Cope says:

        It was London Labour Party long-term aspiration in the 1970s, before the rise of Ken. Backburnered once Labour started trimming local govt support after 1976. So Fares Fair was a much more cautious, targeted approach ironically.

  2. Cezary Bednarski says:

    Hi Dave, I was not aware of this. Need to look into it. In any case this was in a different epoch, and now that London transport cannot pay for itself owing to COVID we have a new threshold scenario which should be tempting

  3. Philip Virgo says:

    I am more than a decade older than you and have long regarded it as unfair that I can travel free on bus and tube during rush hour, while those on national minimum wage who clean London before the commuters enter the centre, pay full fare. Given that it appears unlikely than commuter travel will recover to much more than half its pre-Covid levels and tourism may similar never fully recover, there is a need for a complete rethink of the funding for TfL.

  4. Andy Fawkes says:

    Thank you for your analysis Dave. Having travelled on the tube for work and pleasure for over 40 years now I feel little guilt about now having free travel. In fact, there is an argument of course to encourage people to travel and spend money across the city. However, the finances are poor so if something has to be done then perhaps reduced annual travelcard fees, maybe a half price 60+ off peak card, might be a compromise.

  5. Theresa jules says:

    Hi Dave
    Thanks for all the information.
    I have a freedom pass that I have always used for work…i start work at 7.30am..
    Since covid I can’t use it to get to work on time…i had yo purchase an oyster card to travel to work…am front line worker..

  6. Perhaps we could look at a 50% discount scheme for people aged 60+. for use outside the morning peak comuter period. In financial terms for TFL this would be better than allowing free travel. Perhaps also make 60+ people pay normal fares on national rail. even if it is within the TFL zone area, or do a deal with the national rail companies where journeys within the TFL zones are a 50% discount rather than free travel.

  7. MilesT says:

    Interesting analysis; I am just 4 years away from the 60+ pass but I am of the view that it is not aligned with social justice for me to receive it, in it’s current form.

    Furthermore, I think all of the concessionary passes for older people should be means tested, in the same way that the over 75+ BBC TV license will now be means tested, and introduce means tested concessions for all age groups (some of which already exist: students, jobseekers).

    Or (maybe better), if not explicitly means tested, then implicitly by lowering income tax threshold for older people, and letting that age group continue to have winter fuel discount, free TV license, and free access to public transport. Give with one hand to ensure good and easy uptake of benefit (avoiding the “needed but not claimed” breakage that exists with some benefits), take away with the other (in a way that aligns to income). Recouping 60+ costs via mayoral precept may not be well aligned to such a a “beneficiary pays” viewpoint, as it may not align to age groups well.

  8. Andrew Bowdea says:

    Speaking as someone who is 43, I have never understood why people over 60 who are considered to be of working should get any reduced rate travel at all, over other groups. It doesn’t make sense. It’s preferential treatment for people who will generally be in a better financial state than others – i.e kids grown up, mortgage paid off. I know that’s not true if everyone over 60, but there is nothing magical about being 60. There are plenty of people under 60 who don’t have much money who are paying full whack after all.

    1. Michael Lesser says:

      SCRAP THE 60-65 OYSTER CARD `FREE BUS PASS’:
      1) 60 isn’t elderly, & retirement age for those born 1956 onwards is now universally 66;
      2) No benefits/concessions should be age-related alone – why should rich older people get them? Most rich people are still older than me.
      3) Target such benefits/concessions at the poor of any age.
      Born Dec ’57 & in my 4th year of proudly continuing to pay when I could’ve got it free.
      On May 6th 2018, I bussed home to near Heathrow after seeing my football team play Dartford away. 4 London buses – it was a real bargain at no extra on the paid-for commuting bus pass. (I’d got trains to Dartford)

  9. Phil says:

    I’ve just turned 60 and I’m looking forward to enjoying my 60+ card and why not? I’ve used London transport all my life and part of my council tax goes to TFL. I’m unemployed at the moment so it will come in extremely handy in my search for work.
    I would say if TFL wanted to save cash then the under 18 concession is the way to go. I paid bus fares when I went to school. I have noticed kids get on buses for only one or two stops which isn’t good for long term health. My borough has a very big problem with a large percentage of school kids suffering from obesity, a little extra walking may well have beneficial effects.

  10. Ali. says:

    The 60+ Oyster card is not issued automatically, you have to complete an application and supply a photo to obtain one. Therefore if a person thinks they are undeserving or financially stable enough not to require this benefit they need not apply for it. It is not compulsory to use the 60+ Oyster card if over 60.
    There are many older people who have had to either retire early or simply lost their jobs who would not be able to afford to travel without this pass.

  11. Kelly says:

    Another pretence is London weighting.
    Has anyone ever been paid London weighting? Me, my Mum and Dad, have always had low paid jobs, and have never been paid London weighting. I would love for that to be raised as a mayoral issue. Why do we pretend we do that in London? Perhaps if we were paid LW, we might have more money, because as we know, everything is much more expensive in London. London government should be looking into that issue, before deciding whether they want to take away over 60 oyster

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