Concessionary travel for older or disabled people

How to get a concessionary bus pass

What you get with a concessionary pass

How to use a concessionary travel pass

How to get a concessionary bus pass

You are eligible for reduced cost or free travel if you are: 

• an older person who has reached their 66th birthday
• someone with a learning, speech, visual or physical disability under pensionable age 
• a companion to someone 
• you qualify under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme 

Concessionary travel for disabled people

You will need to meet one of the following criteria:  

• chronically sick and disabled and suffering from any disability which permanently and seriously impairs your ability to walk
• permanently blind and unable to perform any duties for which sight is required
• assessed as having learning disabilities
• registered as profoundly deaf, with or without speech
• without the use of both arms, whether through the absence of limbs or otherwise
• unable to drive having had a driving license refused or revoked on medical grounds
• registered as partially sighted (where disability can be assessed by a Consultant  Ophthalmologist)

Download and complete the concessionary travel application form 

Post the form to: Adult Social Care, Westgate Community College, West Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 9LU 

Email: adultsocialcareadmin@newcastle.gov.uk

Phone: 0191 278 8100 

Fax: 0191 278 8188 

Concessionary travel for older people

Download an application form and follow the instructions on the NEXUS website   

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What you get with a concessionary pass

Free travel:

• on buses in Tyne and Wear from 9.30am Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays
• anywhere else in England on local buses, between 9.30am and 11.00pm Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays

Reduced price travel:

• 60p for the Shields Ferry  from 9.30am Monday to Friday, all day at weekends and on public holidays. 
• 50p for Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Metrocentre/Blaydon, from 9.30am Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays. 

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How to use a concessionary travel pass

Visit the Nexus website for more information on using your pass as an

• older person 
• disabled adult 

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How does the council pay for concessionary travel

Bus service operators grant (BSOG)

Newcastle City council receives an annual grant from the Department for Transport (DfT). This helps to pay for concessionary travel for older and vulnerable people.  This is called the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG). 

The BSOG is paid to councils and community transport operators to benefit you the passenger by helping:

• to keep the cost of fares down
• bus operators run services that are less profitable and might otherwise be cancelled

As part of the grant conditions the council reports to the DfT on how we use the funds. Read the annual report here. 

Find out more about BSOG on GOV.UK

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