translink student discount card - worth it?

rob_green

zone 2 travelcard

JulieElizabeth

Translink are a shower of *****

jamesbrownontheroad

JulieElizabeth wrote: »

Translink are a shower of *****

Come and visit us in GB some time. I live in Glasgow but commute over to Belfast to do my PhD at QUB.

Anyone who complains about Translink needs to try the deregulated and privatised "system" in Britain.

Here in Glasgow, First Group have an absolute strangle hold over the bus system. Fares rise at least once a year, in some cases twice in the course of one year. For the six months to September last year, First Group's international profits rose to £3.1bn, ande pre-tax profits trebled from £28.6m to £82m. This happens by squeezing every possible price rise in every region they operate, and by making single fares so expensive that the bus appeals only to daily commuters who pay up to £16 a week for a city zone bus pass.

(See http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/editor-s-picks/kids-clubbers-hit-by-bus-fares-hike-1.1015641 and http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/fury-over-bus-fare-rises-1.958287)

Translink isn't perfect, but at least in NI public transport is still public, and bus fares are reasonable (it costs me £1.75 - and more than that from the suburbs - to get into town here in Glasgow, and don't expect change on the bus either, exact fare only which causes chaos every time fares rise).

And while services can be thin, count yourself lucky to have Ulsterbus connecting every village in NI with at least their nearest town a few times a day. If I wanted to take public transport to get to my family down in England, I would have to travel on a Tuesday - rural transport is a joke in England, and I dream of having a network like Ulsterbus there.