[Someone]

Nowadays, both are “scan your card at entry and exit”, aren’t they?

Elderly will have to do that, too, because a) I expect they still want to track usage, and b) allowing some passengers to hop on a bus without checking in makes it too easy for those ineligible to do that (e.g. elderly who do not live in London) to try and do that, too.

[harvey9]

London buses are tap on entry only. For pay as you go riders the fare is not linked to distance travelled.

[pasc1878]

Elderly in all of England have the equivalent of a Freedom Pass but just for busses (Freedom Passes include almost all Tfl transport, e.g. underground, trams, DLR and some Nationbal Rail inside London)

Unfortunately the bus passes and freedom passes are not interchangeable and sometimes have to be manually checked if not in the local region,