(08 Jan 2015, 1:22 pm)MurdnunoC wrote In that case, should it be extended to the unemployed and those on low income? Someone else mentioned it should be extended to those in higher education up to to the age of 22, but why should mature students be exempt? It will never be perfect as there's always someone who's going to be disadvantaged in some way. As I said, I'd like to see some sort of progressive means-testing applied. But for me, I'd rather have it as it is than have no provision at all. At least, that way, improvements and revisions to the scheme can be made. 

Absolutely. If you give one group of people a benefit to support their cost of living crisis, then it's only fair that the same benefit is extended to those in the same boat. I disagree with ENCTS in it's current form, as I think it's far from being affordable, and it's far too selective in who benefits. OAP before 0930 can travel for 50p in County Durham, yet a child, perhaps from a low income family, could be paying anywhere up to £2.30 to get to school. That's not right.

I read an article not long ago (Independent springs to mind), that it's costing nationally around 1bn a year to provide the free travel. The government have reduced the financial support they give to local councils and PTEs, to fund ENCTS, by about 39%. The amount of use hasn't dropped by 39%, so councils and PTEs are now having to plug that funding gap. In another article, I read that about 250m worth of subsidised bus routes in the UK have been cut since 2010. It's not rocket science that if a council or PTE is obliged to fund a statutory scheme (such as ENCTS), then it's going to have to look elsewhere when it comes to budget reduction. In this case, it's quite clear they've looked straight at the subsidised routes that they previously funded.

Maybe this is why there is a lot of discontent towards ENCTS from bus users? Fare paying customers paying a lot more for less. Fares have rocketed over the rate of inflation since ENCTS was brought in, and I know mine personally has more than doubled. There are a lot less commercially viable routes, and there is very little in the way of secured evening and Sunday services, which we've had in the past. It's nothing short of a disgrace that in 2014, some villages in Durham, do not have a single bus service on a Sunday. Perhaps the ENCTS model just doesn't work in a deregulated market?