Why did you change the start time of my pass from 9.00 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. for weekday travel?

Lewes District Council's Cabinet considered allowing bus passes to be used outside the statutory off-peak hours and would have done so if the Government had adequately funded the free travel scheme.

There are now over 18,000 passes in circulation.  In April 2006 there were 13,300. The growth has happened since the passes gave free travel within the Sussex scheme from April 2006 and the cost of reimbursing operators has soared since that time.

Local authorities are able to decide whether or not to give additional concessions, an example being to allow passes to be used outside the off-peak period.  When an authority does give an additional concession, the Government will not help meet the cost, which must, therefore, be paid for by local council taxpayers.

Although the move from free local travel to free national travel was estimated at £38,000 a year (a half per cent council tax rise) an equally if not more pressing issue was the under funding of free travel since April 2006 which had become apparent during the early part of 2007/08 and was being reflected in budgets for 2008/09.

The budget for reimbursing operators in the current year is £1.7m. Three years ago it was £0.3m.

The Council ended its previous concession because since the introduction of free travel in April 2006 we have had to pay an extra £1.4 million for the use of the passes and the Government grant given to cover the costs has only been £0.7 million. This means that council taxpayers have paid for the balance of £0.7 million even though the Government said it would fund the additional costs.

The higher costs reflect a much higher take up of passes in Lewes District than many other Council areas, more use of the passes and for longer trips as well as transport costs that rise faster than the often quoted Consumer Price Index (CPI) or Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation rates.