Costs of free travel on public transport bus services: FOI release

Information requested

1. Costs incurred for over 60s from 2018 to 2023 as a yearly breakdown for free travel on public transport bus services.
2. Costs to date for free travel for 5 to 21 year olds on the buses who access the Young persons’ free bus travel scheme.

Response

Please note that for your question regarding costs for over 60s we do not separate payment data for the Older and Disabled Persons’ Scheme, so this figure is combined. In response to your questions:

1. Costs incurred for over 60s from 2018 to 2023 as a yearly breakdown for free travel on public transport bus services.

The table below provides a breakdown per year of reimbursements made to operators for the Older and Disabled person’s Scheme.

Period Year	Gross Reimbursement (£)
2018	£194,713,352.12
2019	£202,123,408.77
2020	£208,312,700.90
2021	£66,300,273.75
2022	£123,790,598.52
2023	£156,032,680.77
Total	£951,273,014.83

2. Costs to date for free travel for 5 to 21 year olds on the buses who access the Young persons’ free bus travel scheme.

As at 21 May 2024 the cost of reimbursements made to operators for the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme from its launch were £272,544,241.61. Please note that as operators have up to twelve months to claim for journey reimbursement, this figure may be subject to change.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.