A CALL by the boss of the Oxford Bus Company to curb unlimited free bus travel for pensioners met a mixed reaction from senior citizens.

Keith Ludeman, the chief executive of Go-Ahead Group, which runs the Oxford Bus Company, has warned that giving over 60s a “blank cheque” for travel is financially unsustainable.

The national concessionary fare scheme started last April and has seen cash-strapped Oxford City Council saddled with a £2.4m bill in its first year of operation, with pensioners and disabled passengers taking 4.5 million trips in the city.

Mr Ludeman said: “The government has stated that the pass must become a smart card. Like any card it can be limited with a certain amount of value and that seems a reasonable move. Pensioners cannot be given a blank cheque.”

However the company has not said whether that would mean restricting times or lengths of journeys, or if pensioners would have a fixed amount of credit.

Ben Hillier, 80, from Normandy Crescent in Cowley, Oxford, said: “It shouldn’t be limited because it’s a chance for pensioners to get out and about in a way they couldn’t before. A lot of people really enjoy the pass. It wouldn’t be fair.”

However the secretary of Oxfordshire Pensioners Action Group Michael Hugh-Jones said he would not oppose a limit, if a suitable minimum value, such as £500 a year, was given for travel.

Last month Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach won a Deprtment of Transport tribunal ruling for a higher rate of reimbursement from the council. The decision cost the council an extra £600,000.

Go-Ahead spokesman Jim Boyd said councils gave progressively lower reimbursement rates to bus companies, which made the viability of services “very, very difficult.”

Stagecoach marketing manager Chris Child said: “More senior citizens will want to make more journeys in the future and someone will need to meet the cost of this.”

Ed Turner, the city’s board member for finance, said: “It would be a wrong and retrograde step to cut the ability of pensioners to travel.”

The Department for Transport said there were no plans to limit the scheme.

cwalker@oxfordmail.co.uk