Not only Scotland ! but the UK. 14 March 2006 at 4:14PM in Over 50s MoneySaving 8 replies 1.2K views

Legacy_user

It's a pity Mah_Yong worded the thread

scotland wide travel - free for over 60's and disabled when in fact the buget of some two years ago clearly stated this would be for all, so anyone disinterested in Scotland, just might have passed this thread by. There can be few who are not aware that whatever their particular local authority did until now, from April 1st over 60's and reg.disabled will travel within their own borough free*.

In some area's, arrangements have been made to allow travel further afield, to neighbouring counties for a £1 flat single fare also. This comes into operation on the same date.

*, this is quite important. If previously your council gave you a choice, a travel card that allowed half fare travel or about £22 of tokens for either bus or taxi for the year, those who elected to have the tokens, will have to WAIT until the autumn (in our local case) or until the council make the annual distribution. I queried this today at our council and the reply was "everyone was made aware that this free travel was coming so if they should have chosen the card".

grex9101

once again, thank god it's only the buses. I think a deluge of people infesting scotlands train network would be too much to bear.

WHY not limit to off-peak only? At least then the people who were bloody paying for it wouldn't have to PAY for it with overcrowded transport due to these old fogies...

margaretclare

grex9101

I am sorry you feel so bitter and so full of hate. Without previous generations you wouldn't even be here.

I am one of the people you call an 'old fogie'. And I don't use public transport, I've sent my pass back because it's useless to me. And I don't smell of ammonia, as you mentioned in an earlier post.

I personally think we are patronised and stigmatised because of the assumptions that are made about us - that we 'need' free travel, free TV licences, help with winter fuel etc. All older people are seen as being poor and needy, whereas in fact, a lot of us are NOT poor and we pay our way just as anyone else does. The stereotype is of us catching the bus to the post office where we draw pensions in cash weekly. There's even a stereotype of how we dress. None of this applies to my DH and me!

Margaret Clare

susank

As I am now in my 50's - Am I also an old fogie? Our old people get a raw deal with pensions taxed and why should they not get free travel in the whole of the uk for that matter and as the previous poster stated we would not be here if it was not for the older generation. I look forward to my bus pass as by then I may prefer to be driven rather than drive on the crowded roads
susanK

System

The discussion regarding what an over 60 person should or should not get will go on no doubt for years to come. Circumstances and people are different. I can well remember soon after leaving school, the subject of pensions was aired, but at that age, being old was something difficult to comprehend.

Now at the age of 65 and with a wife that became registered disabled in her early 50's, OUR circumstances changed quite dramatically. Thankfully both have a private pension and a few £'s in the bank. Neither of us have ever driven and use public transport a few times a week. With the introduction of the free pass, no doubt we will be using it daily, simply to get out and generally socialise more.

We have a reduction on the railways for holidays also........ and to conclude neither of us wear "ammonia cologne".

theenquirer

Hi Grex9101
You must get a right buzz out of what you say about older folk. Creates a bit of fun for you obviously. Well, all the best in your old age. You will need it when it comes to you, as it will.
From a not so old timer.

Dora_the_Explorer_5

grex9101 wrote:

once again, thank god it's only the buses. I think a deluge of people infesting scotlands train network would be too much to bear.

WHY not limit to off-peak only? At least then the people who were bloody paying for it wouldn't have to PAY for it with overcrowded transport due to these old fogies...

There seems to be a lot of denigration of older people around these days, far worse than it ever was. Greyx9101 you can probably look forward to it being even worse when you retire. Enjoy.

oap

Well we live in North Wales and although we have a car and do drive, we use our free bus pass a lot, especially into Bangor where it is difficult to park and Llandudno where it is impossible to park!! In fact we could go anywhere in Wales free, ie North to South Wales if we wanted! It would be nice to go into England though to see our friends and get some sort of discount on the buses, its about time the trains did something better than senior saver, I am putting on a new thread about this as I would like some feed back if anyone has any,, entitled Virgin Trains !!!

We are in our seventies, I go to computer classes, have done the Word bit and all of that,,now well into Photoshop and doing my pics on cd with music, and really enjoying myself, hard on the eyesight though.

We garden, go dancing, are ina singing group for pleasure and do two concerts a year with all the old songs, ie this summer our concert in the school hall is called Here comes summer! every song to do with summer, we are having fun getting round Summer Nights ooh oh oh etc, although we have half a dozen John Travoltas on the back row ranging from 60 to 87!!

We make around eighthundred pounds a time, every penny to charity, the audience love the music, they do not hear it so much nowadays, yes MUSIC, and this May we are singing for the local Anglesey Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Yes, we both have aches and pains, hubby has a replacement hip, and a swollen knee, my back aches, my shoulder aches, but we have still just redecorated the hall stairs and landing, me emulsioning him painting, so there you go, me 70 him 75 in April. We hope we shall keep Alzheimers at bay!! Cheers , Mrs oap

margaretclare

oap wrote:

We are in our seventies, I go to computer classes, have done the Word bit and all of that,,now well into Photoshop and doing my pics on cd with music, and really enjoying myself, hard on the eyesight though.

We garden, go dancing, are ina singing group for pleasure and do two concerts a year with all the old songs, ie this summer our concert in the school hall is called Here comes summer! every song to do with summer, we are having fun getting round Summer Nights ooh oh oh etc, although we have half a dozen John Travoltas on the back row ranging from 60 to 87!!

We make around eighthundred pounds a time, every penny to charity, the audience love the music, they do not hear it so much nowadays, yes MUSIC, and this May we are singing for the local Anglesey Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Yes, we both have aches and pains, hubby has a replacement hip, and a swollen knee, my back aches, my shoulder aches, but we have still just redecorated the hall stairs and landing, me emulsioning him painting, so there you go, me 70 him 75 in April. We hope we shall keep Alzheimers at bay!! Cheers , Mrs oap

Good for you. Like us. I'm 70, he's 71, my second marriage (widowed), his third (divorced twice). We're not poor, we're comfortable, we're happy. Like you, we're involved in things (members of our local Methodist Church, I'm the church council secretary, he's a member of the church council). We're happy.

Because of mobility problems we do find it easier to drive than to walk up the road to the bus stop, so as long as we can continue to drive, that's what we'll do. I've only recently started driving again after several months, hip revision surgery early December, left leg got shorter so I couldn't do the clutch! I've had refresher sessions with a school of motoring just to make sure I'm competent.

Yes, we remember North Wales with great affection - bought our engagement ring in a little jeweller's in Llangollen.

Best wishes

Margaret Clare