Mayor defends birthday bus pass as new passengers can try ‘very good bus services’

-Credit:John Wimperis
-Credit:John Wimperis


WECA mayor Dan Norris has defended his birthday bus pass scheme as new passengers can try the 'very good bus services' in the region. Despite the criticism of the scheme as a 'gimmick', thousands of people in Bristol, Bath and South Gloucestershire have been travelling on the buses for free.

The birthday buses scheme gives a free pass to people living in the West of England region, which is valid for the month their birthday falls in. The idea is to encourage more people to use public transport, by getting them in the habit and changing their travel behaviours.

The West of England metro mayor relaunched the scheme last October, feeding a cake that cost taxpayers £120 to his dog, Angel. Councillors pressed him on how well the scheme is going, during a meeting of the overview and scrutiny committee.

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Mr Norris said: “At the moment, the public are voting with their feet, and they’re using birthday buses. I think it’s something like 136,000 journeys were made the month before last. It’s on course to be more successful than it was last year. It’s something that’s of interest to the rest of the country, and to the government because it’s a success, and it’s making a difference.

“Perhaps most importantly, it’s cost-effective. For every pound we spend on it, we get £1.20 extra benefit on top of that. So it actually helps our economy as well as helping people get around. I’m very proud of it because it helps the very poorest in our society. In our region, people on lower incomes tend to use buses as their means of transport.

“There’s been a huge uptake by the very poorest in our communities. If you think that they could save one-twelfth of their travel costs, by using their birthday bus pass, at a time of a really difficult cost-of-living crisis, that is really important.”

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People need an address in the West of England and a digital photo to apply online. Critics previously questioned whether the £8 million to pay for the scheme might be better spent on restoring some of the many subsidised bus routes across the region which have been axed.

The mayor added: “The whole point of birthday buses is to break the taboo, people’s prejudices and prejudgements about what our bus services are like. Because actually, there are some very good bus services in our cities and wider region, despite the headlines where inevitably there are difficulties and challenges.

“Once people work that out, they think ‘hang on a minute, this is a better option than using my car’, in certain places and circumstances. But they won’t know that unless they try it. You can read about things and hear about things, but actually the opportunity to do something is what brings about behaviour change in the longer term. So it’s quite exciting.”