HALF PRICE COACH TRAVEL – ACT NOW!

There are just a few days left to get half price coach travel if you are aged 60 or more. Until midnight on 31 October 2011 National Express and some other coach operators will sell anyone over 60 a half price coach ticket to anywhere in England, Scotland, or Wales. Once you have bought it the ticket can be used right up to 31 August 2012. There is no other expense and no need to buy a special concessionary card. The deal also applies to younger people on certain disability benefits.

However, from 1 November that deal will end. The Government is withdrawing the subsidy that paid for it. It will be up to individual coach operators what – if anything – they do for older or disabled people. National Express customers can still get one third off most fares but they will have to buy a £10 concession card first. And there will be no concession on coach journeys to and from an airport which will be full price for all.

If you live in Scotland the news is not quite so bad. All scheduled bus and coach journeys within Scotland are free to anyone over 60 who gets a National Entitlement Card – see www.transportscotland.gov.uk/public-transport/concessionary-travel/the-national-entitlement-card

In Wales the situation is a bit more complicated. Some journeys within Wales will still have a 50% discount, though not those with National Express. And that concession will not apply to any journeys that cross the English border.

Don’t forget that you can get one third off rail fares if you buy a Rail Card. At £28 a year (£65 for three years) that can pay for itself on a single journey! Apply here www.senior-railcard.co.uk

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