Public transport: Should all over-60s keep their free bus passes?

A public consultation on the SmartPass travel scheme is due to close on 24 August

Should everyone in Northern Ireland be entitled to free bus and train travel when they reach their 60th birthday?

Since 2007/2008, Stormont has funded free public transport for all over-60s, regardless of their income, to alleviate social exclusion.

But since then, the cost of providing the service has risen significantly, as has the percentage of the population over 60 who qualify for a SmartPass.

This year's bill is expected to reach £44.6m - more than double the £22m paid in the first year.

Stormont's Department for Infrastructure, which pays that bill on behalf of taxpayers, is asking the public if eligibility rules should change.

Should passengers have to wait until they reach the state pension age (currently 66) as is the case in England and the Republic of Ireland?

That is just one of many questions in the department's public consultation on concessionary travel.

SmartPass campaigners staged a protest outside the Department of Infrastructure's HQ on Wednesday

Jennifer's journeys

"I don't drive, so I'd be on the bus two or three times a week," says Jennifer Kane, a 64-year-old grandmother from Larne, County Antrim.

"If I didn't have my bus pass, I would be very restricted as to where I could go."

Ms Kane told BBC News NI she depends on buses to take her to the shops, to meet friends and to frequent hospital appointments.

She suffers from arthritis and acute asthma and explains these conditions make walking into town "impossible".

The former factory worker is not old enough to draw her state pension so she watches her money carefully.

"I know people say it's only a couple of pounds, but you have to budget," she says, pointing out that she needs two connecting buses to get to Belfast hospitals so costs would mount up.

Like many grandparents, Ms Kane helps her family with childcare and one of her weekly treats is taking her grandson into town "for a juice or a bun".

They travel for free because the boy is so young, but Ms Kane said she would find it difficult to afford fares for both of them when she starts picking him up from school.

"I wouldn't say no of course, I would find the money, but I would probably have to do without something else."

The consultation acknowledges free transport allows older people to contribute to society for longer through paid work, childcare support or volunteering.

Aged 64, former IT worker David Jamison is semi-retired but plays an active role in his community.

He currently works three days a week with a charity and relies on buses to get to his new job.

David Jamison, 64, says removing free bus passes could exacerbate social isolation

"I'm a project manager with Engage with Age, working with older people to address isolation and loneliness," he explains.

"We run regular activity groups for people to come along to, basically to get them into the routine of coming out of the house."

Mr Jamison lives alone in east Belfast and says "social contact is just important as physical exercise" for a person's wellbeing.

He understands taxpayers' bills are rising, but argues taking the SmartPass off 60-65 year olds may drive some passengers back into their cars.

For others, he argues it would exacerbate social exclusion, citing the costs of return tickets for passengers on low incomes.

"I think it would certainly discourage people from undertaking certain things they might regularly do," he says.

"That person then ends up in their house isolated and you're just creating another problem elsewhere.

However, the state pension age has risen and over half (52.7%) of 60-64 year olds were still working last year.

So is free travel really targeted at those most at risk of social exclusion?

The consultation points out: "Northern Ireland is the only location in United Kingdom and Ireland that does not provide free travel for disabled people."

Disabled SmartPass holders get discounts, paying half fares on buses and trains.

But if they need a companion to look after them on public transport, Translink charges a full fare for a carer.

For disabled passengers like Lynda Ross, that makes even essential journeys expensive.

Lynda Ross has had mobility problems for half of her life following a train accident when she was 23

The 46-year-old lives alone in Portadown, County Armagh, and relies on carers to take her to frequent hospital appointments in Belfast.

"The price of even my half fare - if I was able to go on my own - is too much," she says.

"I genuinely can't afford it. And then paying for the carer as well."

Buying one and a half return tickets means a hospital appointment takes about £20 out of her disability benefits.

"That's three days' food for me."

As a 23-year-old student in 2001, Ms Ross was injured in an accident at Botanic Railway Station.

It affected her ability to walk and she uses mobility aids including a zimmer frame and occasionally a wheelchair.

Under cross-border health agreements, her next NHS operation will take place in Dublin but her SmartPass does not provide discounted travel to the Republic of Ireland.

She calculates her travel costs, including pre-op and post-op appointments, will exceed £250. This will double to over £500 when she brings a carer.

"I'm going to have to borrow," she says, expressing reluctance to "burden family and friends" with frequent hospital trips.

"It can be a very lonely place, being disabled. It can be very isolating."

Costs for disabled passengers accounted for just 3.3% of overall SmartPass costs in the year before Covid

Ms Ross would love free travel to be extended to disabled people, but not to the detriment of 60-65 year olds.

"When you use the buses, you see quite a lot from that age group, especially women," she says.

Ms Ross adds there is a "little community" of older passengers and disabled passengers who take buses to coffee shops and libraries just to alleviate loneliness.

"Even if you're sitting alone, you feel you're among company.

"There's people who will say hello, smile at you, give you that sense of external world that you don't have when you're sitting at home."

She argues removing SmartPasses from anyone facing isolation would have an "absolutely catastrophic" effect on their quality of life.

Protestors gathered outside Belfast City Hall as the consultation deadline looms

On Saturday crowds of people gathered in Belfast City Centre on Saturday afternoon to protest against the proposals.

The Defend Free Travel Passes Campaign was launched following a meeting of trade unionists, transport workers, environmentalists, disability and political activists in Belfast.

The public can have their say on the rules before the consultation closes on 24 August.