Please Stop Using Bus Passes - Transport Secretary

Errata

Funny old world. Pensioners having free rides on buses courtesy of HMG; parents buying lager and fags courtesy of CB from HMG. There appears to be no end to this largesse.

ampersand

Make the most of your Bus Passes whilst you still have them cos mark my words it won't be long before this governement takes them away... just like the free swimming for under 16's and over 60's

mjm3346 wrote: »

Cannot see them scrapping it any time soon.

From the coalition agreement

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Free swimming ends on 31 July at our Pool.:mad:

margaretclare

I see some of the same pensioners at the bus stop three or four times a week going out just for the ride, the bus journey in total is 2.5 hours, they get to the destination and catch the next bus back, they are not helping the economy, nor the bus company as paying passengers cannot get on.

Taking a bus journey 'just for the ride' is NOT my idea of amusement. The last time I took a bus journey the driver took off from the stop as if he thought he was Lewis Hamilton, and I had the bruises to prove it.

I don't disbelieve what you say, but I can't understand why anyone should want to do it.

WASHER

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

And the problem is?

As for pensioners using the bus in holiday times, well don't you think that THEY have had to pay all their lives, same as you? They haven't always been that age you know.

I am 60 and STILL paying £3.40 return trip (and I only go four stops :eek:) as my bus pass hasn't come yet.

Also I don't think your Child Benefit is means-tested is it? Why don't you give that up to help the economy if you can afford to do without it? It's about £35 a week for two children, isn't it? More than enough to pay the bus fare. And anyway, in my day, children stood up to offer pensioners and other adults their seats on the bus.

The problem is that you cannot get onto the bus at many times of the day during the summer, the bus company is losing money by the government offering free bus passes to pensioners. The government subisdy simply doesn't cover the number of non paying passengers.

I would gladly like to see Child Benefit means tested, just like Winter fuel allowance, bus passes etc, I don't see why the government should hand out millions to people, spending cuts have to come from somewhere.

Btw, my children and I would offer a seat to a pregnant woman or an elderly person, but my point is you cannot get on the bus in the first instance, the bus company is losing money hence the reason they cannot put on extra bus services. The bus service I am talking about between Scarborough and Bridlington has made the 6pm National news because of the problems I have mentioned with the free bus passes, and paying passengers further down the route cannot get on.

http://www.beverleyguardian.co.uk/9458/121-service-is-no-good.4929041.jp

I found this on a local newspaper website, this may confirm my post and I didn't write the letter.

Errata

Pensioners subsidised bus travel has been in existence for over half a century. A great many pensioners couldn't travel by bus with any frequency if it didn't exist because many of them, especially women, can't drive.
How bus companies and local authorites are to be funded by central government for this concession needs to be addressed. Clearly the last government paid no attention to the law of unintended consequences effecting honeypot seaside resorts such as Scarborough and Torquay.

Washer - Blame the Labour government for your inability to get on a bus, not pensioners.

WASHER

Errata wrote: »

Pensioners subsidised bus travel has been in existence for over half a century. A great many pensioners couldn't travel by bus with any frequency if it didn't exist because many of them, especially women, can't drive.
How bus companies and local authorites are to be funded by central government for this concession needs to be addressed. Clearly the last government paid no attention to the law of unintended consequences effecting honeypot seaside resorts such as Scarborough and Torquay.

Washer - Blame the Labour government for your inability to get on a bus, not pensioners.

I do blame the Labour government for the mess this county is in, thank goodness the Conservatives/LD are in, maybe they will stop wasting millions on unneccessary benefits, they have cut Tax Credits to many which I fully agree with, they just didn't go far enough in my opinion on other benefits. I am certainly not well off before anyone has a go, I work two jobs for a living and my husband works full time too, but I am begging the government to means test benefits otherwise the essential NHS, education etc will suffer.

I do not drive myself therefore I rely on the bus service, unfortunately at many times of the day I am unable to get on it.

Errata

I'm afraid means testing the free bus pass will achieve little in the way of savings. Half of all pensioners claim pensioner credit. Of the half that don't a goodly percentage of them won't use a free bus pass, another large percentage will have significant mobility problems and be unable to use it, another large percerntage won't wish or be able to travel to seaside resorts.
Why not look on this pensioners travel concession as a slight recompense by the government to pensioners who had to put up with the dire state of the country when they were kids. An experience today's children will never have.

Indie_Kid

Errata wrote: »

another large percentage will have significant mobility problems.

Depending on what their mobility problems are, if the pensionsers bus pass is scrapped, they'd probably qualify for the disabled persons bus pass anyway.

Errata

sh1305 wrote: »

Depending on what their mobility problems are, if the pensionsers bus pass is scrapped, they'd probably qualify for the disabled persons bus pass anyway.

That will be of no use to them if they can't walk further than their front garden gate.

Indie_Kid

Errata wrote: »

That will be of no use to them if they can't walk further than their front garden gate.

Mobility is moe than about walking.