Bus passes advice

Anyone who holds a national bus pass card can continue to enjoy their free bus travel around the county and beyond. 

Some bus providers are experiencing problems with updating their ticket machines to accept the new passes, but whilst they work to resolve them, Shropshire Council can reassure cardholders that all bus operators in the county have been instructed to accept the passes as valid, and record the acceptance manually instead. 

Bus operators are working hard with the Department of Transport and ticket machine providers to make sure that their ticket machines are updated to accept the renewed pass cards in the near future.  

This is a problem affecting all areas of England, and not just cardholders or operators in Shropshire.  Nationally, most councils and bus operators are offering similar reassurance that all renewed cards and those that have yet to expire will be accepted. 

Simon Jones, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for public transport, said: 

“We want everyone in Shropshire who uses a bus pass to not have any hitches travelling in and around the county, and are in close contact with bus operators about their progress in making sure any ‘reader-code’ problems with new cards do not prevent valid travel.”