Disabled people will be able to access free bus travel 24/7 from next year
Andy Burnham has announced free bus pass for disabled people (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham has made a major free bus pass announcement, entitling disabled people to free travel 24/7.
Time constructions will be lifted on disabled bus passes from April next year, in the Prime Minister’s latest move to ease cost-of-living pressures.
Currently, disabled bus passes are valid for travel only on weekdays from 9.30am to 11pm unless local authorities fund an extension, as Greater Manchester did earlier this year when Andy Burnham was mayor.
Now the time restrictions will be removed in all areas in England.
The £60 million to fund the move comes from existing budgets – with £40 million from the Department for Work and Pensions and £20 million from the Department for Transport.
Burnham has announced several changes since becoming Prime Minister in an attempt to tackle the rising cost of living.
These include cutting business rates for pubs, capping bus fares at £2 and axing VAT from electricity bills.
The move comes after Burnham removed the time restrictions in Manchester (Image: Getty)
Burnham said: “Buses are a lifeline for so many people – making it easier to get to work, education and healthcare.
“It’s simply not right that many disabled people cannot travel using their pass during certain times of the day. So we’re fixing that. Disabled people will now have unlimited free bus travel 24/7.
“I did it before in Greater Manchester and I’m proud to do it now for the whole country. This is part of our ongoing action to bring back hope and give people some much-needed breathing space on the cost of living.”
Liberal Democrat Tom Gordon, has been campaigning for the change for almost two years, and celebrated the move.
The MP said: “Disabilities don’t start at 9 o’clock, neither should disabled bus passes and soon enough they won’t. This is a huge win for the disabled community.”
The attempt to remove the time restrictions was originally rejected by MPs last year.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “This is simply the shuffling around of existing departmental budgets.
“Andy Burnham needs to come clean about how he is going to fund this growing list of policies.”