Is it time to end costly freebies like the 60+ Oyster card?

As TfL's budget woes mount, London can't afford to fund free travel

- Ross Lydall

In just over six years, I'm due to join the best club in London. It won't serve G&Ts, restrict women or provide leather armchairs for an afternoon snooze.

But it comes with an invaluable plastic membership card: the 60+ Oyster. Yes, after almost 30 years as a Londoner, I'll finally qualify for free travel on the capital's buses, Tubes and trains.

I won't be the only one. Sadiq Khan (born in 1970) will qualify a few months ahead of me. Will I deserve it? As I hope still to be working by then, the honest answer has to be: probably not.

The issue of travel concessions is back in the news. As I reported on The London Standard's website the other day, London councils face a £500 million annual bill for providing the Freedom Pass, which replaces the 60+ Oyster when state pension age is reached.

About 1.3 million Londoners have a 60+ Oyster or a Freedom Pass. Hundreds of thousands of children and teenagers also enjoy free or discounted travel in the capital, courtesy of the various incarnations of the Zip card.

As do the 26,000 employees of Transport for London (including bus drivers) - and 54,000 of their friends and family - who receive free annual Oyster cards.

How much do all these travel concessions cost? And how many people actually pay the full fare? You may be shocked to learn the details. TfL estimates that, in the 2024 calendar year, it will forego £419 million of fares revenue because of the multitude of travel concessions on offer. The biggest chunk - £125 million a year-relates to the fares not paid by the over-sixties. Of this, about £80 million a year is "lost" due to the 60+ Oyster.