FOI/202500480479 · FOI · not held
Scotland’s National Concessionary Travel Scheme in Local Authorities: FOI release
Information requested
1. The number of residents eligible for Scotland’s National Concessionary Travel Scheme in each local authority area.
2. The total number of scheduled bus routes operating in each local authority area, broken down into: a. Commercial routes b. Supported/subsidised routes
3. Any reports, analysis, or internal correspondence held by Transport Scotland regarding the relationship between concessionary travel eligibility and bus service availability — including any identification of areas where eligible residents have no bus service or only a very limited service.
If available, the same data for each of the previous five years to allow for comparison over time. If any part of this request cannot be fulfilled, please provide the information that is available and indicate where the remaining information is held.
Response
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below.
1. The current number of valid National Entitlement cardholders with access to free bus travel, broken down by local authority area, as of 31 August 2025, was:
Local Authority Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme Older & Disabled Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme Aberdeen City 33,465 57,327 Aberdeenshire 39,899 76,132 Angus Council 15,575 38,126 Argyll & Bute 10,458 32,734 City of Edinburgh 90,342 145,096 Clackmannanshire 5,903 13,992 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar 3,244 9,094 Dumfries and Galloway 16,915 57,788 Dundee City 24,649 42,238 East Ayrshire 18,348 36,373 East Dunbartonshire 15,385 35,459 East Lothian 17,794 34,834 East Renfrewshire 16,584 27,081 Falkirk 21,558 42,305 Fife 62,251 118,053 Glasgow City 96,451 153,694 Highland 26,479 73,225 Inverclyde 11,798 25,596 Midlothian 15,442 27,655 Moray 12,371 27,908 North Ayrshire 20,646 44,396 North Lanarkshire 52,982 85,953 Orkney Islands 2,697 7,673 Perth & Kinross 20,623 50,028 Renfrewshire 27,607 52,528 Scottish Borders 14,739 37,313 Shetland Islands 3,595 7,453 South Ayrshire 13,816 39,185 South Lanarkshire 52,464 92,801 Stirling 12,505 24,728 West Dunbartonshire 14,612 27,213 West Lothian 26,073 46,502 Total as at 31 August 2025 817,270 1,590,483
Please note:
Transport Scotland does not own the National Entitlement Card. Cardholder data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). Cardholder data refers to the number of people with a valid NEC but does not include products which either start in the future or have expired. NECPO work with stakeholders and partners to carry out regular data cleansing of the customer database which may impact cardholder numbers when records are updated. These figures are regularly updated and can be accessed on the Transport Scotland website at Concessionary travel data | Transport Scotland.
2a and b. Transport Scotland does not hold this data. Service information data is only collected where the operator is claiming either the Network Support Grant or National Concessionary Travel Scheme reimbursement. As a bus service can operate through multiple local authority areas, this data is not available broken down by local authority area. You may find it helpful to contact the Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) to ascertain if this is data they can provide. A list of the seven RTPs can be found on the Transport Scotland website at Regional Transport Partnerships | Transport Scotland.
3. Transport Scotland does not hold the information you requested. Searches were carried out using “concessionary travel eligibility and bus service availability”, and no results were returned.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
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