Disabled bus pass holders across England are set for a major win after the government confirmed £60 million in Andy Burnham bus pass funding to scrap time restrictions on concessionary travel for good. The announcement means disabled passengers will soon be able to ride buses free of charge at any hour, any day of the week, ending years of campaigning over a rule that has long been criticised as unfair and outdated.
What The £60 Million Bus Pass Funding Covers
Right now, disabled bus passes only work on weekdays between 9:30am and 11pm, unless a local authority has stepped in to fund an extension of its own. Greater Manchester was one of the few places to do exactly that, thanks to a scheme championed by Andy Burnham during his time as mayor of the city-region.
That local fix is now becoming a national one. Under the new plan, the 9:30am cut-off will be lifted entirely, giving disabled bus pass holders unrestricted, round-the-clock access to services. The £60 million package behind the move is being drawn from existing government budgets rather than new taxation, with £40 million coming from the Department for Work and Pensions and a further £20 million from the Department for Transport.
Why Andy Burnham Is Driving The Change
Burnham, who has carried his transport reform agenda with him since leaving the Greater Manchester mayoralty, says the policy is personal. He has pointed to his record of bringing round-the-clock concessionary travel to the Bee Network in Greater Manchester as proof the model works, and argues it’s only right that the rest of the country gets the same deal.
He described buses as a genuine lifeline, helping people reach jobs, education and medical appointments, and said it was wrong that so many disabled people were effectively locked out of using their pass for large parts of the day. His message was simple: the restriction is being scrapped, and disabled people will now have free bus travel at any hour, exactly as he delivered it in Greater Manchester.
The bus pass shake-up is being framed as part of a wider push to ease the cost of living, sitting alongside other recent measures credited to Burnham since taking on his current role, including reduced business rates for pubs, a cap on bus fares, and the removal of VAT from household electricity bills.
Campaigners Welcome A Long-Fought Win
The change hasn’t happened by accident. Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon, who represents Harrogate and Knaresborough, has spent close to two years pushing for the time restriction to be scrapped nationally. He had been preparing to force a fresh vote in the House of Commons this September after an earlier attempt was voted down by MPs.
Gordon welcomed the announcement, making the point that disability doesn’t switch on and off according to the clock, so a bus pass shouldn’t either. Disability campaigners and older residents’ groups have echoed that sentiment, having watched similar restrictions get lifted successfully on a trial basis in parts of Greater Manchester, where pilot schemes in recent months allowed hundreds of thousands of older and disabled passengers to travel freely before 9:30am without any noticeable strain on services.
Not Everyone Is On Board
The funding announcement hasn’t escaped political pushback. A Conservative Party spokesperson dismissed the move as little more than the reshuffling of money already sitting within departmental budgets, calling on the government to explain how it intends to keep paying for a growing list of similar commitments over the longer term.
Supporters of the policy counter that the underlying budgets were largely unspent or under-allocated, and argue that removing a restriction that penalises disabled people for travelling outside a narrow nine-and-a-half-hour window is a straightforward matter of fairness rather than a fresh spending commitment.
What Happens Next
With funding confirmed, the practical rollout now moves to local transport authorities and bus operators, who will need to update ticketing systems and passenger guidance ahead of the restrictions being lifted. Passengers currently holding a disabled bus pass will not need to apply for a new one; the existing pass will simply work at any time once the change takes effect.
For a country still grappling with high living costs, the removal of time limits on disabled bus travel is being pitched as a small but meaningful shift, one that turns a pass many could only use for part of the day into one that works exactly when its holder needs it.
