Open Letter: End the 9.30am Bus Pass Restriction in the East Midlands

By Lee Odams – Nottingham bus driver (19+ years’ experience)

Across the East Midlands, older and disabled people are prevented from using their concessionary bus passes before 9.30am on weekdays. This outdated restriction limits independence, worsens isolation, and undermines local bus services — at a time when living costs are rising sharply.

Greater Manchester has confirmed this restriction will be scrapped from 26 March 2026. As the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) prepares to take full control of transport powers, I believe our region should now follow suit.

Below is my open letter to Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands Combined County Authority.

Open Letter to Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands Combined County Authority

Dear Mayor Ward,

My name is Lee Odams. I am a bus driver with over 19 years’ frontline experience in Nottingham, as well as an elected trade union representative. I am writing to urge the East Midlands Combined County Authority to remove the 9.30am weekday restriction on concessionary bus passes, and to follow the example set by Greater Manchester, where this restriction will be removed from 26 March 2026.

The 9.30am restriction is increasingly out of step with the realities of modern life for older and disabled people. It is based on the flawed assumption that pensioners and disabled people do not need to travel early in the day. In reality, many rely on early-morning buses to attend medical appointments, caring responsibilities, volunteering, part-time work, and essential day-to-day activities. Preventing free travel before 9.30am directly undermines independence and contributes to social isolation.

This issue must also be viewed in the wider cost-of-living context. Older people are facing rising food and energy costs, reduced winter fuel support, inflation eroding fixed incomes, and the continued freezing of income tax thresholds, which is expected to draw many state pensioners into income tax by April 2027.

While the Government’s £3 fare cap has provided some short-term relief, its future remains uncertain and, for many pensioners, £3 per journey is money that would otherwise be spent on food or heating. Concessionary travel remains a vital and more dependable form of support.

There is also a significant bus network sustainability issue, particularly across rural and semi-rural parts of the East Midlands. Supported and tendered routes are often withdrawn when local authority funding is reduced, frequently justified by low patronage. Yet the 9.30am restriction actively suppresses demand among pensioners — the very passengers most likely to use these services.

Removing the time barrier would:

Encourage greater early-day use of existing bus services

Improve the viability of supported and rural routes

Reduce isolation in villages and smaller communities

Support access to local services and local economies

From my experience on the frontline, pensioners consistently tell us how highly they value their local bus services. Once routes are lost, they are rarely reinstated — and independence is often lost with them.

I welcome the leadership shown in Greater Manchester under Mayor Andy Burnham, where the injustice of the 9.30am restriction has been recognised and addressed. As EMCCA assumes full responsibility for transport powers, the East Midlands now has an opportunity to demonstrate similar leadership by adopting a fairer and more inclusive approach to concessionary travel.

I believe this is a practical, achievable change that would improve lives while helping to sustain local bus networks.

Yours sincerely,

Lee Odams

Important note

This letter is written in a personal capacity. While I hold elected positions within the RMT trade union and reference my experience for context, this blog post and campaign do not represent formal RMT policy. This is an independent campaign initiated in the public interest.