Concessionary travel data

We monitor data relating to our National Concessionary Travel Schemes (NCTS), which provide free bus travel for those aged under 22, 60+ and eligible disabled people, on a regular basis. You can find the latest data on concessionary bus journeys and cardholders below.

Journeys

The number of smart journeys made by bus through the different NCTS and the totals

Scheme	August 2024	1 April 2024 - 31 August 2024
Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme	6,348,760	30,505,654
Older & Disabled Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme	9,772,665	45,940,982
Total	16,121,425	76,446,636

Cardholders

The number of valid National Entitlement Cardholders who can access the different NCTS and the total

Scheme	As at 1 September 2024
Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme	759,433
Older & Disabled Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme	1,577,376
Total	2,336,809

Important information about this data

• All information is correct, based on available data, at the time of publication.
• 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 are working with stakeholders and partners to carry out a data cleansing exercise of the customer database which may impact cardholder numbers when records are updated.
• ‘Journeys’ refers to a smart journey recorded against a valid product that has been received and processed for payment by Transport Scotland.