Bus Passes

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Comments

  • dzug1
    dzug1 Posts: 13,535 Forumite
    First Post Combo Breaker
    Problem is not so much the bus passes themselves but whether local authorities will have the funding to pay the bus companies whatever it is they pay them for the pensioners' travel. If that's insufficient then the bus companies will cancel journeys and/or routes or maybe refuse to accept the passes.
  • zygurat789
    zygurat789 Posts: 4,263 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    dzug1 wrote: »
    Problem is not so much the bus passes themselves but whether local authorities will have the funding to pay the bus companies whatever it is they pay them for the pensioners' travel. If that's insufficient then the bus companies will cancel journeys and/or routes or maybe refuse to accept the passes.

    But it is the central government who funds it ie gives the local councils the money, isn't it?
    The only thing that is constant is change.
  • zygurat789
    zygurat789 Posts: 4,263 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Doc_N wrote: »
    I doubt even this wretched 'government' would dare take bus passes away - it was a very clear election promise and a certain vote loser. Oddly, it's Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems who talk most about means-testing it, and who's ever going to trust Clegg again after the university fees fiasco?

    Mind you, any party led by a couple of no-hopers about whom even one of their own MPs said recently:

    "Unfortunately, I think that not only are Cameron and Osborne two posh boys who don't know the price of milk, but they are two arrogant posh boys who show no remorse, no contrition, and no passion to want to understand the lives of others – and that is their real crime."

    is capable of shafting anyone - unless they happen to be wealthy!

    They have already gone back on their official word, see post 35
    The only thing that is constant is change.
  • jmaster
    jmaster Posts: 5 Forumite
    The age for qualifying is increasing as the retirement age for women increases. So if you have just turned 60 , you won't get the pass until you are 62 and a half. :(

    The retirement age for women is increasing until it is 66 for both men and women. (I think they are still talking about whether this will go up further)
  • Doc_N
    Doc_N Posts: 8,267 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post Photogenic First Anniversary
    zygurat789 wrote: »
    They have already gone back on their official word, see post 35

    I agree with you entirely - and they'll continue to lie and cheat their way through until they (hopefully) get kicked out at the next election.

    I think bus passes might be the one thing they're stuck with, though - the promises were very specific and were repeated again recently.
  • headpin
    headpin Posts: 780 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary
    Extract from Boris Johnson's manifestos for Mayor of London 2012

    "I have maintained free or discounted fares for the most vulnerable, including the Freedom Pass for older people, which I extended to 24 hours, and for disabled people17. If elected I will go further and reverse the last Labour Government’s decision to stop Londoners getting their Freedom Pass at 60"

    And Ken Livingstone's:

    "I will return the age of eligibility for the Freedom Pass to 60."

    So, if either get elected then the "expectation" is that Londoners will still enjoy "free" travel at 60.
  • dzug1
    dzug1 Posts: 13,535 Forumite
    First Post Combo Breaker
    zygurat789 wrote: »
    But it is the central government who funds it ie gives the local councils the money, isn't it?

    Yes it is - but they don't/won't give enough (whatever 'enough' is). So effectively they can keep the bus pass scheme but not fund it and let the LA take the flak.
  • John_Pierpoint
    John_Pierpoint Posts: 8,391 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary
    My local authority has already cut back on the buses - but we now have a long distance pensioner's special that rambles through all the villages.

    Perhaps we can get the driver to drop passengers at their front door, like the buses I remember from my boyhood.
  • dzug1
    dzug1 Posts: 13,535 Forumite
    First Post Combo Breaker
    John_Pierpoint wrote: »

    Perhaps we can get the driver to drop passengers at their front door, like the buses I remember from my boyhood.

    My local bus does that - in the smaller places anyway. And some have turned into a roughly timetabled dial-a-ride service
  • margaretclare
    margaretclare Posts: 10,789 Forumite
    headpin wrote: »
    Extract from Boris Johnson's manifestos for Mayor of London 2012

    "I have maintained free or discounted fares for the most vulnerable, including the Freedom Pass for older people, which I extended to 24 hours, and for disabled people17. If elected I will go further and reverse the last Labour Government’s decision to stop Londoners getting their Freedom Pass at 60"

    And Ken Livingstone's:

    "I will return the age of eligibility for the Freedom Pass to 60."

    So, if either get elected then the "expectation" is that Londoners will still enjoy "free" travel at 60.

    Did you enquire what Siobhan Benita says about this? She's apparently doing very well in the opinion polls.
    [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Æ[/FONT]r ic wisdom funde, [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]æ[/FONT]r wear[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]ð[/FONT] ic eald.
    Before I found wisdom, I became old.
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