At the end of October, West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris announced that the free birthday month bus travel will be back for another year. Given the announcement was made in October applicants born in November applied thinking they would get their free pass but as the new scheme does not officially start until December 1.
Around 72,000 people signed up for a pass when the scheme ran for the first time between August 2023 and July 2024. Now it is set to run again from December 1, people aged 21 and under able to get two months of free travel.
Local bus users with November birthdays took to social media to voice their disappointment after failing to ‘read the small print.’ One said: “Having missed out last year and having a November birthday, I got my application in straight away and it was accepted within a day or two.
“Since then, I have been waiting around, watching the month tick down and wondering when the pass would arrive.” Like others born in November who have recently applied for the free month of bus travel, the pass was accepted but didn’t arrive because the free travel will be granted in November 2025.
For those who have failed to read the details of the scheme starting up on December 1 this has caused confusion because the communication they received does not provide this information. In reply to the person warning people on social media, several people responded saying they had also expected a pass to arrive in November. One said: “Same here, I got an email yesterday to say It has been dispatched. My wife’s birthday is on the 29th November. She is furious.”
According to the independent KPMG analysis of the first year of Birthday Buses, people saved on average almost £40 each through their free Birthday Bus pass and 1.2 million journeys were taken at a cost of £2.35 million. The same analysis suggests that the scheme has reduced carbon emissions and got people out of their cars who wouldn’t have normally used the bus.
Jamal, who has a November birthday, is living in Bristol as an asylum seeker and is not allowed to work while he waits for the Home Office to process his refugee application. He regularly uses the bus for his voluntary work but sometimes does not have enough money to cover his fare.
Like many others with November birthdays, he was not aware that he would have to wait a year and even emailed WECA to inform them but got no response. After making the application he received an email which informed him that his application was approved and that the ‘free birthday bus pass will be on its way soon’.
The email stated: “Great news! Your application for FREE bus travel in your birthday month has been approved. Your pass will be sent to you in the month before your birthday, or as soon as possible if it’s less than a week away.
“Remember, you can use your card as many times as you like during the month.” As he was unaware that the scheme was not officially starting up again until December he thought he had missed out after the pass did not arrive.
“I don’t know where I will be living in November next year, I may no longer be in Bristol,” added Jamal. Like others travelling by bus across the West of England, he will see his bus fare rise as the £2 cap on single bus journeys is lifted in the next year.
“I thought my pass was going to arrive because it’s what they told me in the email. I think people would use the bus more in Bristol if they had a better service and kept the price low for the whole year,” he added.
Mr Norris, on BBC’s Politics West, said in relation to the bus fare cap: “They won’t be staying at that level, I’m afraid. It’s because we don’t have an income stream. We don’t get money like Merseyside from the Mersey Tunnel, or Greater Manchester from a profitable tram system.
“We have the lowest levy, in other words the money that comes from local councillors, the lowest of any metro mayor in England, so we’re not in that position to find the full amount but we will go a significant way towards it.”
Some passengers who used the pass between August 2023 and July 2024 said that their pass arrived within a few days, others said they experienced longer wait times which meant they were not able to benefit from a free month of travel.
“I applied last year right at the end of the month before and the pass didn’t arrive until about two and a half weeks into my birthday – everyone should just apply immediately anyway is my advice,” added another Reddit user. Another person reported on the public forum back in June that they were sent an email informing them the pass would arrive in seven days but it arrived late and several others claimed their passes never arrived at all.
The FAQs on the website inform passengers to apply at least seven days ahead of their birthday month: “To enjoy free travel for the whole of your birthday month, you will need to apply at least seven working days before the first day of the month that your birthday falls in. But if you miss this, you can still get a pass to cover part of it.
“Apply any time before the 15th of the month that your birthday falls in, we’ll process your application and send out your pass as quickly as possible, and it will cover the remaining days until the end of the month. And remember, you can apply as soon as you like, even if your birthday is ages away. We’ll process your application and send your card out in time to use it at the start of your birthday month.”