Pensioners’ passes face axe in Metro cuts

Jul 31 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

The RMT’s Stan Herschel said: “I’m disappointed that Nexus did not have the courtesy to sit down with the trade unions and discuss this, there has not been enough done to talk through this.

“40% savings means cuts, and that probably means jobs and we will not just sit back and let that happen.

“If it is true that concessionary travel will be withdrawn we will involve the community to defend what is the best local transport system in Europe.”

David Wood, chair of the Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority, said the blame for the cuts lay with the coalition Government.

The Labour councillor said: “It’s a harsh situation but we are where we are because of this Government. The most vulnerable will be the ones who are affected.

“We don’t know where we are until we get the exact figures but once again the least well off will bear the brunt of it.

“Before the election there was lot said by all parties that the concessionary passes would not be hurt in the cuts and now we see they have gone back on this.

“The gold card Nexus offers does have people pay towards it which goes a long way but we face the situation where you can have free busses rather than rail and it is tragic.”

Last night Nexus insisted the job loss figures were not set, and that the concessionary travel cut did not necessarily spell the end for the Gold Card.

A spokesman said: “Like all parts of the public sector we are looking to see how we can act more efficiently in the current environment, and following the change to our business since the operations side of Metro was contracted out.

“We will be seeking efficiencies that will protect the high-quality public service we offer, and we aim to find savings by reviewing business processes, through voluntary redundancies and not filling vacant posts.”