Nearly half of Jersey bus users do not pay - minister

A minister has told a scrutiny panel that nearly half of the people who travel by bus in Jersey have free passes.

Minister for Infrastructure, Connétable Andy Jehan, told the The Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel on Thursday people still receive a free bus pass when they are 65 years old, before retirement age.

To make the bus service "sustainable", he said it was an area that may need to be "looked at", along with making concessionary fares only available at certain times to avoid paying customers being unable to board during rush hour.

At his final hearing before the elections, he said 44% of bus users did not pay for their travel.

Jehan said: "We have to make sure the bus company is sustainable and viable... 44% of people that ride on the bus don't pay.

"You can get a bus pass before you're a pensioner because we still give out bus passes at 65, so that's an area that needs to be looked at."

He also said the government might need to consider whether it limited the time some concessionary fares use the bus.

"We've got people commuting to and from work on concessionary fares and sometimes fare paying customers can't get on the bus because the bus is full," he added.

He was asked to also comment on the recent price increase of bus fares which came into force on 1 March.

Adult passengers paying by card face a rise of 20p to their journey, with the charge at £2.75 up from £2.55, while child tickets bought on card have also seen a rise from £1.27 to £1.40.

Jehan told the panel he thought it was still "excellent value for money" and encouraged the bus company to advertise the value of its prices against the cost of parking charges.

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