Current status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 30 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what discretion exists for bus service operators to charge booking fees to passengers making journeys under concessionary travel schemes.
Bus operators use their own commercial judgement to decide on service routes, frequency and fare structure, including booking procedures. Any changes must be consistent with the processes enforced by the Traffic Commissioner.
Day to day operational activity and booking processes are the responsibility of individual bus operators in line with their conditions of carriage. The choice to offer advanced booking and charge a fee to passengers including National Entitlement cardholders is at the operator’s discretion.
Where a booking fee is charged it is not part of the National Concessionary Travel Scheme reimbursement process and the Scottish Government does not cover the cost.