Travel

Travel Vouchers

You may qualify for travel vouchers if you are a resident in Greater Manchester and:

you are registered blind with your local authority, or

you are in receipt of DLA (Disability Living Allowance Higher Rate Mobility Component), or

you are in receipt of Higher Rate (formerly known as 24 hour) Attendance Allowance, or

you are in receipt of the War Pensioners Mobility Supplement, or

If you do not receive any of the above benefits, you may still be entitled to travel vouchers if you are not able to walk 100 metres (110 yards) or more, or climb steps of 300 millimetres (approximately 12 inches) or more, however, this must to be certified by your doctor on your application form.

You can travel anywhere in Greater Manchester and the neighbouring counties using travel vouchers. However, you can only use travel vouchers with taxis, community transport schemes and accessible bus services, such as Ring and Ride, which are authorised. If you use transport that is not part of the scheme your vouchers will not be accepted.

We will send you a list of all authorised taxis, community transport schemes, and accessible bus services in your area when we send your vouchers; if you would like lists for other areas of Greater Manchester, we will provide these on request.

When you join the scheme you will be given a travel voucher user card that shows your name, your photograph and a user number; you must show this card when you pay for a trip using Travel Vouchers. Vouchers are not free but are substantially discounted. Travel Voucher Users can buy up to ?120 worth of vouchers for ?30, which is just one quarter of the full value.

Vouchers can be used instead of cash, which means that if your journeys costs, say ?6, then you will hand to the driver ?6 in vouchers, but remember, as you have only paid a quarter of their full value, the journey has only cost you ?1.50. Taxi drivers must give change if your journey costs less than the value of your vouchers.

Vouchers change colour every year and you will not be able to use them after the date printed on the voucher. Each voucher has a number on it and we keep a record of which vouchers you have bought in case they are lost or stolen.

If you already have a Free Travel Pass or Concessionary Travel Permit, which provide free or cheap travel on buses, trains and Metrolink in Greater Manchester, you must hand it in when you join the Travel Voucher Scheme. You cannot have both a bus pass or permit and Travel Vouchers; however, the travel voucher user card provides free or cheap travel on trains and Metrolink in the same way as your pass or permit.

If you do qualify for travel vouchers you are not obliged to have them. Some people who would be entitled to buy travel vouchers may choose not to do so, preferring to keep their free pass or concessionary permit.

Travel Vouchers are not free, you must buy them, but they are substantially discounted. You may buy up to ?120 worth of vouchers at a cost to you of ?30. The vouchers come in sheets - each sheet contains 2 x ?5, 4 x ?2 and 2 x ?1 vouchers and will cost you ?5.

The Travel Voucher year starts on 1st April in one year and runs until the 31st March the following year. It doesn t matter when in the year you join the Travel Vouchers scheme, you can still buy up to 6 booklets. However you can only purchase Travel Vouchers from April to the following February, as orders received during March will be processed for the following year.

You may buy a limited number of sheets each year. Currently you can buy up to a maximum of 6 sheets in a year. We are not able to make any exceptions to the maximum number of vouchers allowed per person per year, even if they do not cover all your travel costs. However, the yearly allowance is reviewed each year and may change in future years.

You don t need to buy them all at once, for example, if you buy three sheets you will pay ?15 and get ?60 worth of Vouchers. You can buy more if you need them, but only up to 6 sheets. But you must use all your Vouchers before 31st March so if you think you might not spend ?120 on travel; it would be best not to buy them all at once. Please only purchase the amount you know you will use as there are no refunds or exchanges.

For an application form and further information please write to or phone:

Concessionary Travel

Transport for Greater Manchester