If YOU have a Bus Pass

kathrynha wrote: »

The problem round where I am is the fares for paying customers are going up above inflation every year to subsidise those with bus passes

zygurat789 wrote: »

You've got it the wrong way round. If buspasses were abolished the number of journeys made by former bus pass holders would plummet, this would result in less money being received by the bus companies, in which case, what do you think they would do?

Neither is correct.

The formula for paying the bus companies is that they should receive exactly the same amount of money as if bus passes didn't exist. Anything else would be a state subsidy, which is illegal apart from in specific circumstances.

So if someone is only travelling because they can travel free on a bus pass, then the bus company gets nothing.

If someone would travel irrespective whether they have a bus pass, then the bus company gets the normal fare.

The bus company may appear to get something for every free bus pass user, but in reality for simplicity it is just a composite figure of the above, that produces the same income for the bus company as if bus passes didn't exist.

The only time the bus companies receive money over and above, is if the route is specifically subsidised, for example country routes for social need reasons.

Altarf wrote: »

Neither is correct.

The formula for paying the bus companies is that they should receive exactly the same amount of money as if bus passes didn't exist. Anything else would be a state subsidy, which is illegal apart from in specific circumstances.

So if someone is only travelling because they can travel free on a bus pass, then the bus company gets nothing.

If someone would travel irrespective whether they have a bus pass, then the bus company gets the normal fare.

The bus company may appear to get something for every free bus pass user, but in reality for simplicity it is just a composite figure of the above, that produces the same income for the bus company as if bus passes didn't exist.

The only time the bus companies receive money over and above, is if the route is specifically subsidised, for example country routes for social need reasons.

But I have never told anybody why I am travelling, not even Big Brother.

Disabled_Rights_For_Me wrote: »

This surely relies on the bus company knowing why someone is travelling???? The result is still the same - someone using a bus using their free bus pass

The bus company doesn't need to know, the council does.

If 100 people use their bus pass and the fare is £1, the bus company doesn't get £100. The bus company gets the amount that people would have paid if they didn't have a bus pass.

So if 20 people would have paid, but the other 80 wouldn't have bothered travelling if they didn't have a bus pass, then the bus company only gets £20, the same as they would have received if bus passes didn't exist and people paid for tickets. However to make it easier for the bus company, they get 20p per bus pass passenger.

If 50 would have paid, then they get 50p per passenger.

If nobody would have paid, they get nothing.

So as you can see, fare paying passengers don't subsidise bus pass passengers.

Also the bus companies don't benefit if lots of bus pass passengers travel, unless they were going to pay anyway, and all that happens is the bus company gets the money from the council, rather than from the passenger. They still get the same amount of money, just from a different source.

Altarf wrote: »

The bus company doesn't need to know, the council does.

If 100 people use their bus pass and the fare is £1, the bus company doesn't get £100. The bus company gets the amount that people would have paid if they didn't have a bus pass.
This would surely have been £1

So if 20 people would have paid, but the other 80 wouldn't have bothered travelling if they didn't have a bus pass, then the bus company only gets £20, the same as they would have received if bus passes didn't exist and people paid for tickets. However to make it easier for the bus company, they get 20p per bus pass passenger.
I suppose you copied this from some governmental explanation

If 50 would have paid, then they get 50p per passenger.

If nobody would have paid, they get nothing.

So as you can see, fare paying passengers don't subsidise bus pass passengers.

Also the bus companies don't benefit if lots of bus pass passengers travel, unless they were going to pay anyway, and all that happens is the bus company gets the money from the council, rather than from the passenger. They still get the same amount of money, just from a different source.

I'm sorry I still have no idea what happens

zygurat789 wrote: »

So if bus passes are discontinued there will be no money from governmental sources for the bus companies but they will recoup an unknown amount from pensioners now paying full fare who previously had the average fare paid for them via the buspass.
I reckon the bus companies would lose ouit and have to increase fares.

They`ll lose out big time because it said in the aricle,

"10 million elderly and disabled people are now in receipt of a free bus pass, and they account for a third of all bus journeys in England".

Cameron has said, if elected, the passes stay.