At the moment, there are nearly 200 different types of free travel passes in
circulation in England. So it’s impossible for a bus driver in, say, Birmingham
to look at a North Lincolnshire pass and be sure there and then whether it’s
valid for free travel.
To
avoid this confusion, we need to issue a single style of pass throughout England
that is immediately recognisable. And we’re aiming to do this by April 2008.
The
new pass will be a smart card and will carry a microchip. This will help to
reduce fraud and make the allocation of the cost of travel easier.
The
council expects over 20,000 North Lincolnshire residents to order a new pass.
There will be about 7 million new passes issued throughout England by the middle
of 2008.