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About Travel Passes

Concessionary travel passes are available to anyone aged 60 years and over and eligible disabled people living in England. Concessionary travel is also available to children under 16 years of age.

Travel passes are administered by GMPTE.

Low fares - Over 60

The Concessionary Bus Travel Act states that everyone of state pensionable age and over in England can get free off-peak travel on all local buses anywhere in England.

From 6 April 2010 the eligibility age for the National Concessionary Travel Pass changed to mirror the state pension age. This means the earliest date on which you can get your Pass will depend on when you were born and, if you were born on or after 6 April 1950, this date will be later than your 60th birthday. For men the eligible age is the pensionable age of a woman born on the same day.

Only holders of NCTP will be entitled to travel for free or at the concessionary fare.

If you do not have your pass with you when you travel, you will have to pay the full fare.

Find out more about travel passes for people aged 60 and over.

Low fares - Disabled

The Concessionary Bus Travel Act states that disabled people in England who are eligible will get free off-peak travel on all local buses anywhere in England from April 2008.

The national concessionary travel pass replaces concessionary passes that we issued before April 2008. If you have an old-style paper pass and want to continue to travel for free or for the current standard concessionary fare, you must get a new-style plastic national travel pass.

If you qualify, you can travel for free on local buses anywhere in England between 9.30am and 11pm Monday to Friday, and all day at weekends and on public holidays.

So if you visit another part of England, you can use your pass to travel on local buses in that area.

Before 9.30am, you must pay the current standard concessionary fare in Greater Manchester and the full adult fare outside Greater Manchester.

Some disabled people can travel for free on buses at all times in Greater Manchester. If you qualify, we will give you a Concession Plus pass. This allows you to travel for free on buses at all times in Greater Manchester and for free on local buses elsewhere in England between 9.30am and 11pm Monday to Friday, and all day at weekends and on public holidays.

Find out more about travel passes for disabled people.

Low fares - Under 16

If you are aged 16 or under and have not yet completed year 11 at school you can travel for the concessionary fare on all buses, trains and Metrolink trams in Greater Manchester. The concessionary fare for each bus journey is half the normal adult fare, no matter how far you travel on the bus. New fares are also being introduced on Yellow School Buses and Transport for Greater Manchester's dedicated school services. These will be £1 for a short, single journey, £1.20 for a journey of medium length and £1.40 for a single, long journey. In some cases, return fares will also be available.

From 16 May 2011 if you're aged 11 to 16 you will need an igo pass to pay the concessionary fare on buses in Greater Manchester. An igo pass proves that you are aged 16 or under and is valid until 31 August after your 16th birthday. When you are 11 you need to carry proof of your age to pay the child fare on Metrolink trams. You can use an igo pass to do this.

The igo pass replaces the ID-16 card. If you already have an ID-16 card, you can carry on using it until 15 May 2011 but if you don't have an igo pass after then you will have to pay higher fares.

If you travel regularly, you can also buy special tickets that save you more money; but you must have an igo card to buy these tickets, for example System One Junior Bus Saver, available to regular travellers between 5 and 16 years. You can get an igo application form from Transport for Greater Manchester Travelshops or click here to visit the igo website where you can download an application form.

  • You can also buy child versions of some adult day tickets such as Rail Ranger, Metrolink Saver, Wayfarer day tickets, and Junior Daysaver tickets
  • Children can also buy child fare season tickets for bus, train and Metrolink tram travel

Find out more about travel passes for people aged 16 and under.