Slough Borough Council operates two types of Concessionary fares scheme. One where residents and the disabled pay an up front fee of £36 which then entitles them to use all buses within the borough and makes their travel free on routes that extend as far as Reading, Windsor and Maidenhead, Staines and Hounslow. Following the initial pass fee cost, there are no additional costs and each pass allows unlimited travel. The cost of purchasing this pass has also been frozen at last year's price level.

The alternative is a pass which is free to collect, and which again entitles users to same routes as the £36 pass, but where users pay half fare for each journey.

For 2003/4, the budget for both Concessionary fares and for socially necessary bus services is approximately £1.1M. Bus services operated by local bus companies during the evenings and at weekends and on Bank Holiday are partly subsidised by the Council

In respect of the Passenger Transport Executives elsewhere in the Country such as Transport for London, the Greater Manchester PTE, Merseyside PTE and Tyneside PTE, the provision of services for the elderly is financed by individual authorities who pay a levy to their particular PTE.

The budgets for bus services varies from £44.1M for Greater Manchester, to £38.5M in Merseyside and £46.3 for the Tyne and Wear Metro area. Councils which make up the respective PTE's fund the levy from all Council tax payers in their areas.

All PTE's have time restrictions on the use of bus passes. They restrict use to either after 9am or 9.30 am during the week.

Contrast this with the no time limit for the Concessionary pass holders in Slough.

There is no Thames Valley body currently in existence that could fulfil the same functions as a statutory PTE.

The Thames Valley Multi-Modal Study, a sub regional body independent of local authorities is currently looking at all transport issues, including passenger transport, for the Thames Valley.