Plea for reduced bus fares for Telford WASPI women 'unlikely'
A plea for reduced bus fares for Telford's ‘WASPI’ women who fell through the net of the change in retirement age is unlikely to be met unless outside funding can be found.
Carol Scott, a member of the WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality), asked Telford and Wrekin’s full council meeting on Thursday whether the authority was working to implement a concessionary travel scheme, possibly linked to the TLC card for the women born in the 1950s still affected by the delayed state pension.
“Or was the council’s commitment to be a WASPI-supporting council just empty words?” she asked councillors.
“They have no entitlement to a bus pass.”
Councillor David Wright said that the council had every sympathy with the WASPI campaign.
But he stressed that the authority was facing significant pressures on its public transport budget.
“We would be keen to support any national scheme that is instigated and will be looking to see if we could put something in place if any public funding becomes available," he said.
Following the meeting Carol said: “I was not expecting anything else.
"The council says it is a WASPI-supporting council yet it can not offer reduced bus transport for our women who are struggling.
“In many other areas women over the age of 60 have concessionary travel.
"Women over 60 can swim for £1 with the TLC card - surely that could be connected to public transport concessions.”
