Introduction
In February 2023, the Bus & Coach Policy Group (BCWG) of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) commissioned a data report into the impact of Covid-19 on Concessionary Travel in England. The report has been prepared for the Policy Group by the University of Plymouth’s Sustainable Earth Institute, in partnership with Smart Applications Management Ltd (SAM).
The report compares English National Concessionary Travel Journey and Active Card Data for the calendar years 2019, and 2022 for 10 urban authorities and eight rural authorities within England. The report compares a range of data across this timeline, based upon key ENCTS parameters including, age, sex, card type, time and location.
The data is based on the recorded transaction data of the local authorities AMS-HOPS data being associated through SAM’s Data Visualisation Service (DVS) platform with the non-personal Customer Management System (CMS) data, to ensure GDPR compliance.
The report maps actual usage, and presents the data without seeking to make assumptions as to any individual influencing factor behind it. A range of general factors are considered within the conclusion. The intention of the report is to provide a genuine like-for-like comparison across a sample set of rural and urban areas of England, to identify trends and impact, which could be considered for more in-depth research.
Background
What is ENCTS
The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) is a national scheme introduced by the Department for Transport in partnership with Local Authorities across England. ENCTS provides free local bus travel within individual English local authority areas for entitled residents who have attained the state pension age, as well as eligible disabled residents.
The national ENCTS entitlement is for free off-peak bus travel on weekdays and all day at weekends and bank holidays.
Local Authorities have the ability to enhance the basic entitlement for their own residents of for all users within their area. Entitlement enhancements cover areas such as the provision of ENCTS Passes for companions of disabled travellers, or by extending the minimum scheme operational hours.
There are two types of concessionary pass: the Senior Peron’s pass with a blue panel at the right hand side of the pass, and a Disabled Person's pass with an orange panel. All ENCTS Passes are issued as ITSO Smartcards.
Both passes are valid between 09:30 and 23:00 on weekdays and at any time at weekends and public holidays. Both types of pass are valid throughout England only, although some cross-border journeys which start or end in England are permitted.
What is ITSO
The ITSO Specification is the national standard for interoperable smart ticketing on public transport within the UK. ITSO Smart ticketing allows a transport scheme to electronically store a travel ticket and permissions on a microchip, which is embedded within a smartcard.
ITSO smartcards can allow passengers of public transport to seamlessly hop on and off buses, trams or trains without having to use traditional payment systems like cash or a purchasing a paper ticket.
The contactless smartcard is scanned by the transport operator either at a static or handheld ticket machine, or barrier/gate, to authorise travel.
The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme passes are all issued as ITSO Smartcards. This enables the data generated by the use of the ENCTS card to be passed back to the Local Authority where the card is used, to support operator reimbursement, as well as to the Local Authority that issued the ENCTS card.
Who are Smart Applications Management
Smart Applications Management (SAM) is a Membership owned not-for-profit Company. It was established to provide a range of Concessionary Travel and wider support services to its Members to enable them to deliver Smart Mobilities and Integrated Ticketing.
Formed in 2010, SAM is owned by its Members, which in May 2023 comprised: 71 Unitary, County and Combined Local Transport Authorities throughout the UK, 68 Public Transport Operators; as well as Transport Scotland, Transport for Wales and eight Associate Members including the Department for Transport.
Membership of SAM is open to any local authority, public sector transport body, or bus operator, as defined within the Articles of Association. The Company has four Local Authority and three Bus Operator Directors and an independent Chairman. Full details about SAM.
A core element of SAM’s ongoing business is the provision of a managed service to local authorities to issue ENCTS cards and manage their customers. This includes the provision of a managed ITSO AMS-HOPS, Customer Management System (CMS) and access to Card Production Bureau Services.
This report is based upon the ITSO transaction data generated by 18 Local Authorities’ ENCTS Schemes, which are managed by SAM and its team.
Study Area
The data used in this report represents 18 ENCTS Local Authority areas in England, comprised of 10 Urban Authorities and eight Rural Authorities. The full list of these Local Authorities is shown:
Urban Authorities
Bristol City Council
Plymouth City Council
Torbay Council
South Gloucestershire Council
Tyne & Wear Council
Stockton on Tees Council
Middlesbrough Council
Darlington Council
Hartlepool Council
Bournemouth Christchurch Poole Council
Rural Authorities
Cornwall Council
Bath & NE Somerset Council
Somerset Council
North East Lincolnshire Council
North Somerset Council
Durham Council
Northumberland Council
Redcar & Cleveland Council
Covid-19 Timeline
To ensure a fair comparative approach, the Report compares data of two full 12-month periods: January 1st – December 31st 2019, as this was prior to the 1st Covid lockdown on March 16th 2020, and January 1st 2022 – 31st December 2022, as this was after the lifting of the majority of restrictions associated with the variant Omicron in December 2021.
Data parameters and qualifications
The core data used is based upon the ITSO transaction data generated for each of the 18 identified Local Authorities.
The report only uses the transaction data associated with ENCTS journeys within each authority’s own area – for example, a transaction from a Cornwall ENCTS card used in Suffolk is not included as a Cornwall journey within the report.
The data is based upon the total number of ‘Active Cards’ used within each of the two annual periods. An ‘Active Card’ is defined as an ENCTS card which has been used at least once during either of the 2019 or 2022 time periods. Cards associated with Dormant Accounts or Hotlisted Cards were not included.
Whilst similar, the number of ‘Active Cards’ recorded will not be 100% representative of the total number of ENCTS passholders, as some ENCTS customers may have had more than one ‘Active Card’ within a year.
The data only uses successful ENCTS ITSO transactions, and so where an ENCTS journey is made on a bus without an ITSO Electronic Ticket Machine (ETM), or where the ETM or ENCTS card is faulty, these journeys will not have been included. Within the 18 Local Authority areas studied over 99% of all ETM’s were ITSO enabled during the two study periods.
The data does not seek to claim that the route mileage available to ENCTS customers within the Local Authority areas was the same in 2019 and 2022. It was not. Reductions in available route mileage has occurred during this period which will have impacted on an ENCTS customers’ ability to use a service.
Some Travel Concession Authorities choose not to record the Gender of ENCTS Applicants. As such, where data within this report represents all Active Cards this includes the total number of all Active Cards and related transactions. However, where figures are shown identifying e.g. Male Active Cards and transactions, this will represent only the data associated with those Cards.
Where age related data is presented it is based on recorded ENCTS customer ages on January 1st 2019 and January 1st 2022.
Conclusion
All areas
Overall there was a 36% reduction in total ENCTS Journeys across all areas. Journeys by Elderly Passholders reduced by 38% and Disabled Passholders by 28%. Total Journeys by Male Passholders reduced by 32% and Female Passholders by 36%.
Across the 18 Local Authority areas, the average number of Journeys per Active Card reduced by 34% to an average of 48 single journeys per year.
The age group with the largest reduction in average trips per Active Card are those over 80 years old, with the Male Passholders making 43% fewer journeys per Active Card, and Female Passholders making 46% fewer journeys.
Between 2019 and 2022 the total number of Active Passholders reduced by 2.6%.
Rural areas
Overall, the total reduction in ENCTS journeys in Rural Areas was 34%. Elderly Passholders reduced their travel by 37% and Disabled Passholders by 23%. Male Passholders in Rural Areas are making 31% fewer journeys, and Female Passholders 36%. The lowest % reduction of journeys in Rural Areas was for Men aged <70 years old where the reduction was 16%. The highest % reduction was for Men aged >80 which was 47%.
The lowest % reduction of journeys by Female Passholders in Rural Areas was for Women aged <70 years old where the reduction was 19%. The highest % reduction was for Women aged >80 which was 50%.
Between 2019 and 2022 the total number of Rural Active Passholders increased by 1.6%.
Urban areas
Overall, the total reduction in ENCTS journeys in Urban Areas was 36%. Elderly Passholders reduced their travel by 39% and Disabled Passholders by 29%.
Between 2019 and 2022 the total number of Urban Active Passholders reduced by 7.6%.
Observed trends
Overall ENCTS usage has fallen by up to 1/3rd between 2019 and 2022, with Female Passholders making proportionately fewer journeys than Male Passholders.
Elderly Passholders are making proportionately fewer journeys than Disabled Passholders, whose reduction in journey use was the least.
Within both Age Groups, Male and Female Passholders <70 years old have reduced the number of journeys the least, whilst those over 80 have reduced the number of journeys the most, by over 40%.
Influences
Available Services
The number of live registered services as monitored by the Traffic Commission reduced by 9.5% between January 2022 and 2023. This follows an ongoing trend of route and mileage reduction which has seen the number of miles driven by local buses in England fall by 27% in the 10 years ending 2021-22 according to the Department for Transport. During the core Covid Pandemic period of 2020-22 there was a 16% reduction in bus miles driven.
Overall Falling Patronage
In line with the reduction of available bus mileage, the Department for Transport identifies that total patronage has been falling with a 39% reduction in overall patronage within Great Britain in the decade 2011-2022.
Change in Shopping Habits
The Pandemic saw a significant knowledge uplift and shift to online service provision for goods and services, especially food. These levels have remained high since the lifting of travel restrictions and may continue to contribute to a reduction in ENCTS journey usage.
Ongoing Concerns over Using the Bus
During the Pandemic the Government ran a marketing campaign advising people not to use the bus. It is not fully understood why the Government targeted the Bus Sector with the measures already taken to make journeys safe, compared to other sectors such as Supermarkets or other retail outlets. With Covid-19 still around, and many ENCTS Passholders more vulnerable than other residents, it is expected that some of the reduction in usage may be due to a reluctance to use the bus based on such legacy concerns.
The Influences above are included as examples of factors which may have influenced the change in ENCTS usage within England. No direct correlation between the data presented and these influences is made. It is suggested that additional research be considered, such as the Transport Focus Study to explore this data in more detail and complemented by qualitative research.
Transport Focus study
On 1st July 2023, Transport Focus published its own research, through its Transport User Panel to explore the reasons why Concessionary Travel passengers were not getting back on board.
Key findings – All ENCTS data
Contact
If you have any queries regarding this report or would like to request support files please contact us using the details below.
CILT Communications Team
E communications@ciltuk.org.uk
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport
Earlstrees Court, Earlstrees Road
Corby, Northants NN17 4AX
United Kingdom