Vol. 526 No. 1
221 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will review the starting time of 10.00 am for the senior citizen free travel pass with a view to a minor change to 9.45 am to allow senior citizens avail of the service to get to 10.00 am Mass. [25996/00]
The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years, or over, and to all carers in receipt of carer's allowance and to carers of people in receipt of constant attendance or prescribed relative's allowance. It is also available to certain people with disabilities and people who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments.
Time restrictions have been a feature of free travel scheme since its inception. They do not, however, apply in the case of mentally handicapped people, people attending long-term rehabilitation courses or certain work experience programmes and certain other disabled or blind people. These people are issued with an unrestricted free travel pass which enables them to travel during the normally restricted travel times.
The central issue in regard to time restrictions relates to capacity constraints. Where restrictions apply it is at the request of the transport companies because the transport system is under severe pressure from commuters travelling to and from work and school in the morning and evening. In this regard, CIE have expressed grave reservations about any relaxation in time restrictions, as many of their services are already operating at full capacity, even in off-peak hours. There are no peak time travel restrictions on DART, suburban rail services, and on services provided by private transport operators in other parts of the country. In the circumstances, there is nothing I can do to address the issue raised by the Deputy.
