Disabled adults

Everyone applying for the Concessionary Travel Scheme on grounds of disability has to be initially assessed by the Social Services department of their Local Authority. You should, therefore, contact them for advice on what you need to take with you.

Telephone numbers are:

Gateshead – 0191 433 2327
Newcastle – 0191 278 8100
North Tyneside – 0345 200 0101
South Tyneside – 0191 424 6727
Sunderland – 0191 520 5552

If you are eligible for a Concessionary Travel Pass, you will be given a Confirmation of Eligibility form.

If you have one of the following types of disability and live in Tyne and Wear, you may be entitled to a Concessionary Travel Pass:

• Blind or partially sighted.
• Profoundly or severely deaf.
• Without speech.
• Have a disability which means that you cannot walk except with excessive labour, at an extremely slow pace or with excessive pain.
• Do not have arms or have a long term loss of the use of both arms.
• Have a learning disability.
• Someone who has been, or would be, refused a driving licence on certain medical grounds.

Further information regarding the definition of these criteria is available from Social Services.

If you qualify under one of the above categories and attend college or are in paid employment for at least 15 hours a week, you can apply for an All Day Concessionary Travel Pass, which can be used at any time.

With a CT Pass you can travel:

• Free of charge on buses in Tyne and Wear from 9.30am Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays.
• Free anywhere else in England on local buses, between 9.30am and 11.00pm Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays.
• For 60p on the Shields Ferry from 9.30am Monday to Friday, all day at weekends and on public holidays.
• For 50p on Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Metrocentre/Blaydon, from 9.30am Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays.

Please note that there are no discounted fares on Metro, or on Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Sunderland, for Concessionary Travel Pass holders. However, you can have unlimited travel on Metro, on Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Sunderland and also the Shields Ferry if you buy a Metro Gold Card. Pick up a leaflet for more information.

If you have an All Day pass, you will be able to travel on buses in Tyne and Wear free of charge all day, for 60p per trip at any time on the Shields Ferry and for 50p on rail services between Newcastle and Metrocentre/Blaydon.  Please note that your pass does not entitle you to all day travel outside Tyne and Wear.

If you need to travel before 9.30am in order to get to or from a hospital appointment, just show your hospital appointment card or letter with your CT Pass when requested. Please note that this only applies to journeys starting in Tyne and Wear.

Apply for your first Concessionary Travel Pass - click here

You will need:

• A passport style colour photo attached to the application form in the box provided.
• Your Confirmation of Eligibility form.
• Proof that your permanent address is in Tyne and Wear – for example a council tax, gas, electricity or phone bill, dated within the last 6 months - please send a photocopy if you are applying by post.
• All Day Pass applicants – a letter from your employer/tutor confirming that you will be attending paid work or college for at least 15 hours a week for 6 months or more. This must be on official letterhead, be dated within the last 3 months and must not be a photocopy.
• If you are applying for a replacement/damaged pass £5, by cheque or postal order made payable to Nexus if applying by post.
• A completed application form, which you can download below, if you're applying by post.

If you have any questions about applying for your pass or about the Concessionary Travel Scheme itself, please call 0191 20 20 747.

Please allow 28 days from us receiving your application for your new pass to be issued.

Request the replacement of an existing Concessionary Travel Pass - click here
 

If you think you have lost your pass while using public transport, please contact the appropriate operator. Call Customer Relations on 0191 20 20 747 if you are unsure which operator’s service you were on.  If the operator has not found your pass, you will need to complete a new application form. It will cost £5 to replace a lost, stolen or damaged pass, or if you need to change your name or photograph.

You will need to send us the following:

• A completed application form, which you can download below, if you're applying by post.
• £5 cheque or postal order made payable to Nexus if posting.

Please allow 28 days from us receiving your application for your replacement pass to be issued.

Request the renewal of an existing Concessionary Travel Pass - click here

You can renew your pass during the month that it runs out or in the month before that. You will need to complete a new application form. There is no charge for renewing your Concessionary Travel Pass. You do not need to send in your current or expired CT Pass when you renew it.

You will need to send us the following:

• Completed application form, which you can download below, if you're applying by post.

Please see the 'CT Pass renewal information' document attached below for further details about renewing your CT Pass.

Please allow 28 days from the date of your application for your pass to be re-issued.

Please note that unlike CT Passes for older people, CT Passes for disabled people are not renewed automatically.

• On buses – touch your card on the reader by the ticket machine when you board the bus after 9.30am Monday-Friday, all day at weekends and on public holidays. You must pay the full adult fare before 9.30am Monday-Friday.
• On the Shields Ferry – show the ferry operator your pass to buy your 60p ticket from 9.30am Monday-Friday, all day at weekends and on public holidays. You must pay the full adult fare before 9.30am Monday-Friday.
• On Northern Rail services between Newcastle and MetroCentre/Blaydon – from 9.30am Monday-Friday, all day at weekends and on public holidays, either buy your 50p ticket from a ticket machine or buy it from the conductor; you will need to show the conductor your pass. You must pay the full adult fare before 9.30am Monday-Friday.
• On all Metro services and Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Sunderland, if you do not have a Metro Gold Card, you must pay the full adult fare at all times.

How to use your Metro Gold Card

• On Metro – show an inspector your Metro Gold Card when requested, from 9.30am Monday-Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays. You must pay the full adult fare at all other times.
• On the Shields Ferry - show the ferry operator your Metro Gold Card when you board, from 9.30am Monday-Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays. You must pay the full adult fare at all other times.
• On Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Sunderland – from 9.30am Monday-Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays, show the conductor your Metro Gold Card. You must pay the full adult fare at all other times.

• On buses – touch your card on the reader by the ticket machine when you board the bus.
• On the Shields Ferry – show the ferry operator your pass to buy your 60p ticket.
• On Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Metrocentre/Blaydon – from 9.30am Monday-Friday, all day at weekends and on public holidays, buy your 50p ticket from a ticket machine before you board a train (you will pay the adult fare from a conductor if you could have purchased a ticket at the station where you boarded the train ). You will need to show the conductor your pass. You must pay the full adult fare before 9.30am Monday-Friday. .
• On all Metro services and Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Sunderland, if you do not have a Metro Gold Card, you must pay the full adult fare at all times.

How to use your Metro Gold Card (if you have an All Day Concessionary Travel Pass)

• On Metro – show an inspector your Metro Gold Card when requested.
• On the Shields Ferry - show the ferry operator your Metro Gold Card when you board.
• On Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Sunderland – show the conductor your Metro Gold Card.

Yes, if you need to travel before 9.30am in order to get to/from a hospital appointment, just show your hospital appointment card or letter with your CT Pass or Metro Gold Card when requested.

If you qualify for the scheme because of refusal/revocation of a driving licence, you will need your GP to confirm your eligibility using the 'GP confirmation form' which you can download at the bottom of this page, or call Customer Relations on 0191 20 20 747 and we'll send one out to you.

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme includes Service personnel and veterans under the age of 60, who were seriously injured in service and who are resident in England. There is automatic eligibility for seriously injured veterans and Service personnel who have been awarded a guaranteed income payment for tariffs levels 1-8 under the 2005 Armed forces Compensation Scheme. This evidence can be used to prove eligibility.

If you meet these criteria, and are resident in Tyne and Wear, you can apply to Nexus for an English National Concessionary Travel pass, providing evidence as above.

• If you move house, call us on 0191 20 20 747 and give us your CT pass number, old address and new address, or write to us at Customer Services, Nexus, Nexus House, St James Boulevard, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4AX
• You can also contact us at this address or phone number to inform us of the death of a passholder. This will ensure that they are removed from our database, and you will receive no further correspondence from us

Conditions of use

1. All Concessionary Travel Passes remain the property of Nexus and will be withdrawn if misused.
2. Concessionary Travel Passes are not transferable and can only be used by the person named and shown on the pass.
3. For journeys on the ferry (unless you have a Metro Gold Card), and rail between Newcastle- Metrocentre/Blaydon, you will be required to purchase a ticket to use with your Concessionary Travel Pass.
4. For journeys on Metro, or on Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Sunderland, you will be required to purchase a full adult ticket if you do not have a valid Metro Gold Card.
5. Concessionary Travel Passes can only be used for travel on specified local public transport services in England.
6. Notwithstanding the above, the pass holder is subject to the General Conditions of Carriage and passenger regulations of the participating operators.  The Tyne and Wear Concessionary Travel scheme is financed by the Integrated Transport Authority and administered by Nexus in conjunction with your Local Authority.

A Companion Card lets you take someone with you free of charge when you travel on buses in Tyne and Wear, County Durham, Northumberland and Darlington. It’s available to residents of Tyne and Wear who receive certain allowances and are not able to travel without a companion. Find out more here.

Please keep us informed of any changes to your details, eg change of address. We will need to be sent documentation confirming the change before we update our records.  There will be a £5 charge if we need to issue a new pass (eg for change of name or photo).

National Fraud Initiative:  The Passenger Transport Executive (Nexus) is required by law under Section 6 and part 24 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 to participate in the National Fraud Initiative’s data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud.   This includes supplying data about concessionary travel pass holders to the Audit Commission.  If you have any questions about this please contact Nexus.  You can also obtain information from the Audit Commission. For general enquiries to the Audit Commission call 0303 444 8330 or write to The Audit Commission, 3rd Floor Fry Building, 2 Malsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.