What this consultation is about
The Derbyshire Gold Card concessionary travel scheme allows card holders to travel for free, on local buses, throughout Derbyshire and the rest of England, from 9.30am up to 11pm on weekdays, and at any time during weekends and on bank holidays.
To qualify for a Gold Card, you need to be either over the state retirement age, which is currently 66, or regardless of age have a disability from the list drawn up by national government. This includes people who are:
- blind or partially sighted
- profoundly or severely deaf
- without speech
- without arms or have the long-term loss of the use of both arms
- have a long-term disability which seriously impairs their ability to walk - this may include Blue Badge holders
- have a learning disability
- are disqualified from driving on medical grounds (this may include people with a severe mental disorder)
We recognise that even with the free travel which the Gold Card provides using the bus can be a particular issue for people with severe disabilities. As a result, we are consulting on the potential to introduce a companion pass as an extension to the current scheme. This would allow certain disabled Gold Card holders who need help to travel to take a companion or carer with them on the bus free of charge.
The companion or carer would not be issued with a separate card of their own rather the existing Gold Card holders card would be updated with a +1 symbol being added. This means the companion or carer who travels would not be limited to one specific person but could change dependent on the circumstances. Companions or carers would only be able to travel for free if they are with the Gold Card holder and at any other times they would need to pay a fare as normal.
To be eligible for a companion pass it is proposed the existing disabled Gold Card holder would need to be either:
- registered blind
- have a severe walking disability which means you are physically unable to get on or off the bus without the assistance of another person
- have a severe learning disability which means you need to be accompanied or supervised at all times
Prior to developing the scheme further, we want to undertake consultation on the proposal.