The cost of bus passes for Hertsmere residents on benefit will be slashed to zero, it was announced at a meeting last week, where it also emerged that a cheaper 'smart card' system could take five years to introduce.

Hertsmere Borough Council controversially increased the cost of zonal passes a year ago, from £16 to £18 per year for people on benefit - including those on Council Tax benefit, housing benefit and income support - and from £16 to £36 for senior citizens not on benefit.

The council's leading Conservative group argued the raise was necessary because it was paying the bus companies £165 for each pass, many of which were not often used, and it suggested a 'smart card' swipe system, whereby the council would only pay for journeys made.

At a meeting of the council last Wednesday, the Conservative group's member responsible for bus passes, Councillor Spencer Pitfield, announced that the 1,400 pass-holders on benefit would get their passes for free.

He said: "This has troubled both me and my group for some time now there are enough demands on all our personal resources to meet the costs of everyday life, and for those people on benefit that job becomes harder."

Labour's Councillor Leon Reefe welcomed the move as a "small concession", but was disappointed that his demand for the £36 pass to be slashed to £20 this year and to zero in the next five years, because of the delay in the introduction of 'smart cards', was defeated when put to the vote.

It is understood the 'smart card' system could take four to five years to introduce because of the problem of getting buses in different areas to adopt the technology.

There were also calls for the Conservative leadership to use reserve funds in the bank to cut the cost of passes.

But finance portfolio-holder Councillor John Graham said the council could not use the £17m reserve, because it was not allowed to use £12m of it to fund bus passes, and it wanted to hold onto the remainder in case the council faced unexpected expenditure. But the Pensioners' Rights Association's David Endacott said: "There are a lot of elderly people suffering because of the price rise.

"It is the people not on benefit who are suffering the most, because they worked all their lives and saved for their retirement, and their money is dwindling away subsidising people on benefit."

Regarding the introduction of 'smart cards', he said: "It is too far away it is diabolical when you compare it to the Greater London area where pensioners get free passes."

Councillor Pitfield said, after the meeting, he was not certain that 'smart cards' were the answer, because it would cost the council around £40,000 per year to fund the technology.