Seniors may have free travel perk cut

BY JOSH REICH

The Government is looking at cutting back on free off-peak travel for the elderly as the cost of the scheme mounts, a decision that could see free bus services wiped for seniors in Nelson.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce said the travel subsidy under the SuperGold Card was set to exceed its $18 million budget, with the Wairarapa-to-Wellington train service and the Waiheke Island ferry singled out as high cost.

"The highest priority of the review process is to consider how to keep the scheme within the available budget of $18m a year, while continuing to provide improved mobility for older people," Mr Joyce said.

About 6700 seniors in Nelson are SuperGold Card holders.

Free off-peak travel saves them $1.50 a bus trip in Nelson city and $3.80 for a ride to Richmond.

No-one from SBL buses, which runs Nelson's commuter bus service, was available to comment.

However, Nelson City Council transport and road safety co-ordinator Margaret Parfitt, who helps operate the scheme in Nelson with the bus company, said they simply had to await the outcome of the government review.

She said if the Government withdrew the funding, it was likely the scheme would be pulled.

"It uses government money, not council money," she said.

Nelson Grey Power president Gordon Currie said he did not think the SuperGold Card had much significance in a place like Nelson.

"It's certainly not used anywhere near as much as the Grey Power card is."

The Grey Power card offered transport discounts, but not free off-peak travel.

However, Mr Currie said the changes would be of concern to those who were not Grey Power members.

Information on how many seniors take advantage of the scheme in Nelson was not available.

In Auckland, the Waiheke ferry alone costs $2m and the operator is paid $13 a ticket.

Officials are also considering the level of reimbursement to operators and councils, and what services are eligible.

The review is also looking at how "off peak" is defined.

A discussion document notes that after the first 12 months "it has become clear that in its present form, the scheme is not financially sustainable with the funding available".

But the card's architect, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, said yesterday the changes could hit the elderly hard and would be a breach of National's assurances in 2008 that the elderly would not lose what they had.

"These people had their lives opened up where they were previously trapped by cost into staying at home and remaining at home," said Mr Peters.

"They are not wealthy – they are extremely modestly incomed in the main."

Mr Peters said the scheme, set up under the previous Labour government, had not had a limit of $18m.

In the first 12 months, 8 million trips were taken under the scheme.

Cutting the reimbursement rate to operators and councils by one percentage point from its current 75 per cent rate would save $250,000 a year.

Different reimbursement rates for regions or services, or between urban and rural areas are also in the mix.

The document also asks whether the card should carry a photo ID to prevent fraud.

Labour's transport spokesman, Darren Hughes, said the review was yet another broken promise by Prime Minister John Key.

"In March 2009, John Key described it as `a successful programme' [and said] `we will be funding the increase'.

"Now that appears to have changed."

- © Fairfax NZ News