Disabled people in England to get 24-hour free bus travel

England’s Disabled Bus Passes to Operate Around the Clock from April

Ninoda.com – The UK government has confirmed that disabled residents of England will enjoy unrestricted, fare-free bus journeys at any hour beginning 1 April. Under the previous arrangement, passes were valid only between 09:30 and 23:00 on weekdays, a limitation that made commuting to employment or attending evening events considerably harder. Weekends and bank holidays already carried no time restriction.

The measure, estimated to affect roughly one million pass holders, sits within the government’s broader agenda of easing household costs and nudging more people into paid work. The Department for Transport and the Department for Work and Pensions will jointly fund the £60m scheme.

Reactions from the Disabled Community

“Remove barriers to everyday life,” said disability charity Scope, describing the effect of the new rules.

James Barber of the disabled-led organisation Transport for All labelled the announcement a “real win for disabled people” and “very welcome news.” He stressed that the change would also dismantle “the confusing and unjust postcode lottery caused by different rules in different areas.”

Kurtis Crossthorn, a registered blind resident of Sheffield, called the shift “very welcome” and said it would leave many disabled people feeling “relieved” and “heard.”

“Disabled people need to get to work and need to live their life as well,” he added, describing buses as a “lifeline” particularly for those in the community who cannot drive.

Burnham’s Manchester Precedent

Prime Minister Andy Burnham framed the policy as correcting a long-standing inequity.

“Simply not right that many disabled people cannot travel using their pass during certain times of the day,” he stated, adding that the government would change that.

Burnham pointed to his earlier tenure as mayor of Greater Manchester, where he eliminated time restrictions on disability passes within the city’s Bee Network bus system earlier this year.

“I’m proud to do it now for the whole country,” he said.

The government noted that bus travel remains the most widely used form of transport in England and described it as a “lifeline for so many.”

Political Response

Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough and a long-standing champion of the reform, hailed the decision as a “huge win for the disabled community” and the “culmination of two years of campaigning.”

Conservative opposition, however, pressed the prime minister to “come clean” on how he intended to finance “this growing list of policies.” A party spokesman dismissed the funding as “simply the shuffling around of existing departmental budgets.”

Wider Cost-of-Living Measures and UK Comparison

The bus-pass expansion forms one strand of a package that already includes free bus travel for under-16s throughout August, a £2 cap on single bus fares that operators have been urged to adopt, reduced business rates for pubs, and the removal of VAT from electricity bills.

Across the rest of the UK, disabled residents of Scotland and Wales already receive fully free bus travel. In Northern Ireland, blind passengers and disabled war veterans ride at no cost, while other disabled pass holders pay a half fare.