Bus passes again

alanq

DebtHater wrote: »

And may I suggest you go and buy a pair of glasses, because you obviously didnt read my post properly.

I also stated "I know we cant judge someone who carries a disability pass, but it seemed that he was taking the system for granted."

Grounds for eligibility
"one of the following disabilities:

• are blind or partially sighted
• are profoundly or severely deaf
• are without speech
• have a disability, or have suffered an injury, which has a substantial and long-term effect on your ability to walk
• do not have arms or have long-term loss of the use of both arms
• have a learning disability.

Or

• would be refused a drivers’ licence due to physical fitness on grounds other than persistent misuse of drugs or alcohol."

http://www.kent.gov.uk/roads_and_transport/getting_around/travel_by_bus/bus_services/bus_passes_for_the_elderly.aspx

A few of those conditions are not obvious to see.

Savvy_Sue

chesky369 wrote: »

The fact that I can nip down my fairly long high road, do my shopping and walk back.

jojo1964 wrote: »

the rise in use by people who use these has been huge, in particular with people using them to travel one stop, a distance of a few hundred yards,

When my parents lived in London, they were at the top of a very steep hill, and had a bus service which stopped practically outside the door. The station was at the bottom of the hill. When I came to visit, Dad would walk me back to the station, then catch the train one stop to be near a bus stop on 'their' service, and then get the bus back up the hill. Short distances each time, but very valuable to him as the walk back to the station was a bit dodgy and he didn't like me to do it on my own!

horsechestnut wrote: »

Don't forget that a buss pass can also be used as proof of identity; to prove that you are over 60 and eligible for various discounts at theatre, shops attractions etc.

Again, extremely useful to my parents who didn't have driving licences or passports (although they did use it for buses too!). Dad used to tell people who asked for his passport "the only time I went abroad was when Mr Churchill sent me."

pollypenny

Another reason for the bus pass is to encourage people to leave their cars at home.
Greener.

tanith

I must admit I do use my bus pass rather than the car especially if I will have to also pay to park . But I couldn't do my weekly shop on the bus I'd never be able to carry it home.. OH and I intend on travelling around a lot on our passes once he is also retired.

seven-day-weekend

Same here tanith. We are visiting Oxford and Norwich on Home Exchange holidays this year, and will travel around both of these beautiful cities by bus.

Biggles

alanq wrote: »

A few of those conditions are not obvious to see.

And many of those that are, are not obvious to see all the time.

datostar

DebtHater wrote: »

Anyway, back to topic. People seem to be of the idea that the Government pay a certain amount of money each and every time the card is used, most people think its between 80p-£1 that goes to the bus company. This is not true. The Government have "ear-marked" a specific amount of money to allocate to bus companies across the country that accept these cards. The amount of cards that each company take are logged and sent in to the local Transport Integration teams at the county council offices. They then distribute the funds at several points during the year. But there is a "maximum" cap that a company can claim.

In my area, Arriva run most of the buses, along with a few smaller local companies. Bus passes aren't scanned as I understand they are in some areas and you have to state your destination to the driver. A ticket is printed showing point of boarding and destination. I've frequently noticed that on my local service from home my destination is shown as the Bus Station (Terminus) even though I've asked for a nearer stop and got off there. A recent journey from the local hospital to the Bus Station on a little bus from one of the other companies showed my boarding point as a village about 5 miles further back along the route. If all companies are simply paid a flat rate for all journeys why are they bothered about origin and destination and why might the tickets on occasion show longer journeys than the one actually taken?

DebtHater

datostar wrote: »

In my area, Arriva run most of the buses, along with a few smaller local companies. Bus passes aren't scanned as I understand they are in some areas and you have to state your destination to the driver. A ticket is printed showing point of boarding and destination. I've frequently noticed that on my local service from home my destination is shown as the Bus Station (Terminus) even though I've asked for a nearer stop and got off there. A recent journey from the local hospital to the Bus Station on a little bus from one of the other companies showed my boarding point as a village about 5 miles further back along the route. If all companies are simply paid a flat rate for all journeys why are they bothered about origin and destination and why might the tickets on occasion show longer journeys than the one actually taken?

In our area, before the cards were swiped, we simply pushed a button that issued a "free" ticket. This showed the start point of journey only, not the destination.
Now we are on the swipe scheme, it still shows starting point but again no destination. The swipe scheme is simply the county council being nosey - they want to see who is travelling where and when, and if the scheme is being widely used or not.

Someone did say to me that the start point/destinations are shown as a matter of insurance - not sure if that is completely true, although I did hear this from several managers.

Farway

DebtHater wrote: »

Someone did say to me that the start point/destinations are shown as a matter of insurance - not sure if that is completely true, although I did hear this from several managers.

I do not think it is true, we have two bus companies here, one does the get on / get off ticket. The other just issues a "permit to ride", guess they got fed up with the "ticket to ride" gags, especially if on IOW

dggar

datostar wrote: »

In my area, Arriva run most of the buses, along with a few smaller local companies. Bus passes aren't scanned as I understand they are in some areas and you have to state your destination to the driver. A ticket is printed showing point of boarding and destination. I've frequently noticed that on my local service from home my destination is shown as the Bus Station (Terminus) even though I've asked for a nearer stop and got off there. A recent journey from the local hospital to the Bus Station on a little bus from one of the other companies showed my boarding point as a village about 5 miles further back along the route. If all companies are simply paid a flat rate for all journeys why are they bothered about origin and destination and why might the tickets on occasion show longer journeys than the one actually taken?

Do you know whether an ordinary fare paying passenger has the the "Start" and "destination" displayed on the ticket? Most passengers I see in Manchester usually just ask for "a £1.60 ( or what ever the fare is) without stating a destination.