Concessionary bus pass holders in Wokingham borough are being urged to ensure that Wokingham Borough Council knows their current address to avoid any disruption to their use of the service.
Every five years the authority, which administers the scheme locally, must renew all 24,000 passes which it has issued to eligible residents and it will next be doing this from 9 August onwards.
The concessionary passes are available to residents who have reached the state pension age or who have certain conditions affecting their mobility for 12 months or more.
If holders have moved without telling the council, their pass could be sent to a previous address and they might not realise they have missed it until their old one expires on 30 September.
All efforts will be made to forward new passes to the correct address if they are returned to the council, but it is warning people now to ensure a smooth transition.
Any pass holders who have moved home in the past five years and not passed their details on should get in touch as soon as possible at concessionarytravel@wokingham.gov.uk.
Cllr Paul Fishwick, the council’s new executive member for active travel, transport and highways, said: “Many concessionary bus pass holders will have moved home without letting us know, which is totally understandable – moving is complicated and stressful at the best of times, and it’s so easy to forget.
“However, if we don’t have your current address on file, there’s a chance that you might not get a new pass before your old one runs out and we want to avoid anyone being inconvenienced unnecessarily.
“If you, or a friend or relative who holds a pass, realise you haven’t kept us up to speed, it only takes a few minutes to let us know.
“This will ensure you continue to enjoy the benefits of travelling by bus free of charge, including a significantly reduced impact on our environment compared with travelling by car.”
As part of its commitment to playing as full a role as possible in reducing the borough’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2030, the council encourages all residents to travel actively or by public transport wherever possible.
It promotes the benefits of this through its My Journey Wokingham team and is also supporting the My Journey Wokingham challenge on the Innovation Valley Rewards smartphone app, which rewards users with points for leaving the car at home and these can be exchanged for rewards.
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