THE future of travel tokens used by the elderly and disabled in Basingstoke and Deane is to be reviewed.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is predicted to spend £1.37 million next year providing approximately 21,000 residents with the tokens which subsidise travel on buses, trains, taxis and community transport.

Council officers have recommended to councillors that the value of the basic travel token package be frozen at £53 per person for the fourth successive time, in 2010-2011. This is despite noting bus and taxi fares have been increasing by about five per cent annually in recent years.

But the officers also say there is now a Government-subsidised bus pass scheme, providing an alternative to the tokens. And they suggest that a report on the future of the borough’s tokens be written early next year once it is known how the Department for Transport plans to change the bus pass scheme.

Basingstoke Gazette: Have Your Say

The paper, prepared for members of the community and wellbeing overview and scrutiny committee, shows about two out of three eligible residents opted for tokens rather than the national bus pass this year.

The number of token-users has dropped by only 2,435 in the past four years, the report notes. The number of pass-holders has increased by 9,000, to about 11,500, over the same period, with the difference attributed to an ageing population.

Officers are not sure why the tokens remain so popular, but suspect it is because tokens allow more flexibility.

When the committee meets on Wednesday, councillors will consider the freeze in base token rates and a £1 increase in £21 supplementary tokens, which can be claimed by those over 75, those aged over 60 receiving council benefits and people with disabilities aged over five.