Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at 07:10:40 on Sun, 11 Nov 2012, Recliner remarked:
For someone who becomes 60 today, they'll have to wait until 6 July
2015 to qualify for a national bus pass, assuming they haven't
changed the rules again by then.

That depends on the issuing council(s). I'm sure Cambridgeshire will be one
of the meanest.

Are you saying that councils have discretion on when they'll issue the
passes? And if so, do they generally exercise it to issue them earlier or
later than the "female retirement age" benchmark?

They can issue a local pass earlier if they want, as London now does, but
the national bus pass scheme starts when someone reaches female retirement
age. I don't think English councils can opt out of that.

Have any of the shire counties opted-in to provide the

... National bus pas scheme...

passes early?

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/ne...ds_for_travel/

It's not obvious that the scheme referred to there is a national bus pass.

No, it clearly isn't. Local councils (including London) obviously can't
force any others to provide free travel before the national pass age. But
they are free to grant it to 60+ (or any other) locals in their own area,
as London now does.