Disabled bus pass time limits scrapped across England from April

The weekday bus pass restrictions are ending

Around one million people are expected to benefit from the change, which removes weekday restrictions limiting free travel to between 09:30 and 23:00. Passes can already be used at any time at weekends.

Ministers have framed it as part of a wider push on the cost of living and on helping people into work, arguing the morning cut-off makes it hard to reach early shifts or evening events. Bus travel is a “lifeline for so many”, the government told BBC News.

Why the disabled bus pass rules are changing

Andy Burnham lifted the same weekday restrictions on Greater Manchester’s Bee Network earlier this year, when he was the region’s mayor, and is now extending the policy across England as prime minister. It is the sort of retail offer that fuelled the argument that Burnham could do what Keir Starmer could not.

"It is simply not right that many disabled people cannot travel using their pass during certain times of the day. I’m proud to do it now for the whole country."

Prime Minister Andy Burnham

Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough who campaigned for the change, called it a “huge win for the disabled community”.

James Barber of the charity Transport for All said it would end “the confusing and unjust postcode lottery”, while Scope said it would “remove barriers to everyday life”.

Not everyone is convinced. A Conservative spokesman, quoted by the Guardian, asked Burnham to “come clean” on how he intends to fund “this growing list of policies”, among them Burnham’s proposed death tax. The new bus pass rules take effect in April.