Bristol City Council Sneaks Disabled Bus Pass Changes Through With Good News
Disabled people in Bristol are finding they are no longer allowed to have a Disabled bus pass
Changes to the Disabled bus pass in Bristol last year were heralded as good news by Bristol City Council at the time.
The council and the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (WECA), announced changes to the bus passes which saw the restrictions on the times it could be used change. It was allowed to be used 24 hours a day within the region.
The change came into action from 06 April 2025.
Chair of the Transport and Connectivity Committee, Councillor Ed Plowden, said at the time: “I am really pleased we’ve been able to work with the Mayoral Combined Authority and bus operators to extend the times Disabled people can travel for free by bus, including during rush hour in the morning. It will allow greater freedom and flexibility to travel, especially for Disabled people who commute for their work or need to get to an appointment. This is one of the ways we are working towards making Bristol a more accessible city.”
The change came as part of the council’s attempt to make Bristol the UK’s ‘most accessible city’.
But, what the council failed to announce at the time was that there would be tighter restrictions for those applying for the Disabled bus pass in the first place.
Bristol Disabled people have recently discovered that they are no longer eligible for the pass when they have tried to renew them.
In a Freedom of Information request we made to Bristol City Council, the council was keen to stress in response that it had not made any changes to eligibility.
The council said it has ‘not’ introduced any changes in 2025 to the statutory eligibility criteria for Disabled Person’s Concessionary Bus Passes under the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS).
The council continues to assess eligibility in line with the Transport Act 2000.
However, the Department of Transport (DfET) changed their position regarding Blue Badges being an automatic entitlement to a Disabled Person’s Concessionary Bus Pass.
From April 2025, the DfT said it would “no longer recommend” the automatic “passporting Blue Badge eligibility to the ENCTS.
Bristol City Council adopted the guidance and it was implemented within the scheme.
Disabled people in Bristol have told us that they now require 12 points on the mobility aspect of Personal Independence Payment.
Whilst Bristol City Council has not made changes itself to the criteria, they – along with WECA – made the decision to take on changes that would cut back the number of people eligible for the pass.
The scheme allowing 24 hours travel on the Disabled bus pass was simply cut in another way.
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