Elected Member Briefing - Under 22 Free Travel Scheme

This Briefing Note has been published on the Council's website following circulation to Councillors. Its contents may be disclosed or shared outwith the Council.

Details

Purpose

This Briefing Note is being issued in response to a question at the Environment, Infrastructure & Economic Development Committee on 29 June 2022 in relation to the take up and usage of the Under 22 Free Travel Scheme in the Perth & Kinross Council area.

Briefing information

Table 1 (below) provides an extract of figures relating to the take up of the Under 22 Free Travel Scheme in the Perth & Kinross Council area as at end of June 2022. These figures were provided by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO) to the Customer Service Manager as the U22 Scheme is administered by the Council's Customer Service Centre.

The column titled "% Pop U22" provides details of the total number of cardholders with an U22 travel concession as a percentage of the "Current Age" population.

Current age	Population (based on mid-2020 unadjusted)	Total	U22 Total	Other Concession Total	All Concession Total	% Population (Total Cards)	% Population (U22)	% Population (Other Concession)	% Population (All Concessions)
5	1540	115	113	0	113	7.5	7.3	0	7.3
6	1495	240	235	5	240	16.1	15.7	0.3	16.1
7	1540	290	283	6	289	18.8	18.4	0.4	18.8
8	1625	259	244	15	259	15.9	15	0.9	15.9
9	1669	298	284	14	298	17.9	17	0.8	17.9
10	1607	354	333	21	354	22	20.7	1.3	22
11	1699	979	957	22	979	57.6	56.3	1.3	57.6
12	1645	1577	1042	26	1068	95.9	63.3	1.6	64.9
13	1652	1629	589	34	623	98.6	35.7	2.1	37.7
14	1521	1644	703	25	728	108.1	46.2	1.6	47.9
15	1700	1652	705	32	737	97.2	41.5	1.9	43.4
16	1629	1471	715	31	746	90.3	43.9	1.9	45.8
17	1660	1683	840	34	874	101.4	50.6	2	52.7
18	1461	1714	815	35	850	117.3	55.8	2.4	58.2
19	1420	1753	716	40	756	123.5	50.4	2.8	53.2
20	1432	1603	519	31	550	111.9	36.2	2.2	38.4
21	1468	1634	362	36	398	111.3	24.7	2.5	27.1

Column meaning

Current age - age of cardholder as at 1 July 2022 (not at date of issue)
Population (based on mid-2020 unadjusted) - number of people of this age in Perth and Kinross taken from National Records of Scotland estimates published in 2021 for mid-2020
Total - total number of cardholders
U22 total - total number of cardholders with an under-22 travel concession
Other concession total - total number of cardholders with a different travel concession
All concession total - total number of cardholders with any travel concession
% population total cards - total number of cardholders as percentage of population (certain figures are distorted due to duplicate passes being issued when people move from an area etc
% population U22 - total number of cardholders with an under 22 travel concession as a percentage of population
% population other concession - total number of cardholders with a different travel concession as a percentage of population
% population all concession - total number of cardholders with any travel concession as a percentage of population

Usage

As the main local bus service operator in Perth & Kinross, Stagecoach East Scotland has advised that their operating area has seen some of the highest levels of uptake across Scotland with both Perth and Kinross and Fife experiencing much greater usage of the U22 free travel scheme than their other Scottish companies.

Stagecoach East Scotland continue to track the use of discounted tickets, including Under 22 Free Travel, across their local bus service network. Since the scheme was introduced on 31 January 2022, free travel is now provided on approximately 80% of their journeys where a fare was previously required.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to assess the uptake within the different age groups covered by the scheme, but it was noted that the combined demand between adult fare payers, U22 concessions and those still buying child tickets is generally back to around pre Covid levels suggesting some generation through the new scheme given it is known that not all commuting markets have returned to pre Covid levels.

Last modified on 29 May 2024