Edinburgh Napier University

  A concessionary fare (hereafter referred to as a “concession”) is offered to defined groups of people to travel at a reduced fare on public transport. This paper discusses concessions that are arranged by the government for social policy reasons, and the groups that are eligible include retired or older people, and disabled people. Such concessions are required of public transport operators by government and in Britain, operators (or, in London, Transport for London) are reimbursed for revenue lost and, in some cases also the additional costs incurred, as a result of carrying such passengers. This paper does not discuss commercially provided concessions (e.g. student reductions) offered by operators of their own volition to increase their revenue. In certain areas concessions are also provided at the behest of public authorities for those seeking employment, or for young people. However these concessions, too, are not dealt with in this paper as there is considerable local variation in their availability making consistent data hard to obtain....