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Pensioners could lose their free London Underground travel perk as costs for the freebie soar to £372million.
Freedom Passes allow the capital’s pensioners to use London‘s entire transport network free of charge, slashing everyday costs for millions across the capital.
The scheme has always included Underground and Overground journeys but London Councils – the body that organises the passes – is launching a review which could effectively turn it into a bus pass, eliminating the rail travel aspect.
Other options include increasing the age at which Londoners can claim the pass from 66, or excluding national rail services within Greater London from the pass’s scope.
The yearly cost of the scheme, funded by tax payers in the capital’s 32 councils, is set to rise by more 11.8 per cent in 2026, The Standard reports.
Councils are expecting to pay for more than 279m free journeys from April.
This is all while London’s local authorities face a spending clampdown in other departments, including special needs provision and social care.
Reducing the Freedom Pass’s scope could ease this financial pressure by around £148m per year, according to London Councils chief operating officer Stephen Boon.
Pensioners could lose their free London Underground travel perk as costs for the freebie soar to £372million (Stock Photo)
The adjustment would require parliament to amend the Greater London Assembly Act 1999.
London’s scheme is one of the most comprehensive in the country with many towns and cities instead offering free bus travel during off-peak times only.
It is different to the 60+ London Oyster card, which only provides free travel during off-peak hours and is administered by Transport for London (TfL).
These cards are written off by TfL as lost revenue and the organisation is believed to have missed out on £125m in fares from 60 to 65-year-olds in 2025 alone – a figure anticipated to rise to £180m by 2027.
The Freedom Pass’s only restriction applies to morning rush hour in the capital.
Costs have increased thanks to Freedom Pass users take more journeys on the network, as well as an adjustments to how Elizabeth Line fares are calculated.
TfL will also charge the cost of the Osyter cards the passes are attached to directly to London Councils for the first time this year.
Each card costs £1.50 and there are nearly 400,000 of them.
Reducing the Freedom Pass to a bus pass could ease financial pressure on councils by around £148m per year, according to London Councils’ chief operating officer (Stock Photo)
Mr Boon also told a meeting of London Councils’ transport and environment committee that the Society of London Treasurers, an organisation of the boroughs’ chief financial officers, ‘expressed concern about the growing cost of the Freedom Pass scheme’.
He added that his officers ‘will continue to work…to identify what other policy options might be used to control the cost of the scheme in future’.
Some of London’s wealthiest boroughs are set for funding decreases as councils continue to feel the financial squeeze.
Richmond is bracing itself for a 16.2 per cent increase in the cost of funding the pass, while Brent is expecting its share of the invoice to soar by more than £2m.
London Councils and TfL declined to comment.