Published: Monday 1 October 2012

Tags:

Boroughs agree to fund Freedom Pass for over 60s

FREE travel on London's buses, Tubes and Overground services is to be brought back for the over 60s, despite the government trying to push up the age at which the Freedom Pass kicks in.

The new 60 starting age for the 24-hour pass begins on 1 November and is expected to benefit an extra 10,000 people a month. It costs £10 to join the scheme.

For the last two years, the starting age for the Freedom Pass has been 61, a side-effect of the official plan to raise the retirement age to 68 instead of the 60 for women and 65 for men it is at the moment.

But London's boroughs have now clubbed together and agreed to stump up the £320 million it takes to bring the qualification age down to 60 once again.

"From November, hundreds of thousands of people will be armed with their 60+ London Oyster card, enjoying all our great city can offer," said London Mayor Boris Johnson