PENSIONERS and people with special needs will need to start renewing their five-year concessionary bus passes this year.

In the coming months Metro will start the process enabling people to renew the English National Concessionary Transport Scheme (ENCTS) cards which give senior citizens, disabled people and blind people free bus travel.

Because Metro is required to issue the cards with a five-year expiry date, the people that were sent them when the scheme was introduced in 2008 will have to apply for a new one by then end of March 2013.

Card holders will be able to renew their pass through the Metro website at www.wymetro.com from August.

Metro’s Assistant Director of Customer Services, Diane Groom, said: “Thanks to the recent development which enables people to apply online through the Metro website, renewing these cards is a simple and straightforward process.

“We are putting procedures into place that will ensure that everyone who needs a replacement card will get one before the expiry date of March next year.”