Bus pass petition...

Pollycat

Ganga said:

Here in the N.E. of England we have free bus pass for the retired BUT you cannot use it at peak times in the morning unless you have a hospital appointment ,you have to show the driver the letter .

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that.
Here, it only applies to Monday to Friday. 
And I understand you can't use it after 11pm.
But with single fares only £2.00 per journey, is not too bad if you need to go out earlier during the week.

Freecall

There is also the other benefit of a bass pass.

It gives you a way of proving your age for all sorts of other benefits which would not otherwise be available.

sheramber

Pollycat said:

Ganga said:

Here in the N.E. of England we have free bus pass for the retired BUT you cannot use it at peak times in the morning unless you have a hospital appointment ,you have to show the driver the letter .

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that.
Here, it only applies to Monday to Friday. 
And I understand you can't use it after 11pm.
But with single fares only £2.00 per journey, is not too bad if you need to go out earlier during the week.

That used to apply in Scotland so you didn’t travel at commuter times.

That restriction has since been removed.

westv

Ganga said:

Here in the N.E. of England we have free bus pass for the retired BUT you cannot use it at peak times in the morning unless you have a hospital appointment ,you have to show the driver the letter .

I think a 9am or 9:30am start applies everywhere.

LHW99

Only difficulty seems to be if you want a bus, but don't actually know the routes, it can be quite difficult to work out which bus you need - you may find multiple buses at the stop you want to get on, but unless you know the area, the names of the stops it goes to are fairly meaningless, unless you can find a bus site with a map of the routes (and sometimes not then either .

eskbanker

Freecall said:

There is also the other benefit of a bass pass.

It gives you a way of proving your age for all sorts of other benefits which would not otherwise be available.

Does it also give privileged access to free or cheap beer, fish and musical instruments?

ColdIron

LHW99 said:

Only difficulty seems to be if you want a bus, but don't actually know the routes, it can be quite difficult to work out which bus you need - you may find multiple buses at the stop you want to get on, but unless you know the area, the names of the stops it goes to are fairly meaningless, unless you can find a bus site with a map of the routes (and sometimes not then either .

That's the beauty of apps like Citymapper, but yes it has been a barrier in the past

LHW99

ColdIron said:

LHW99 said:

Only difficulty seems to be if you want a bus, but don't actually know the routes, it can be quite difficult to work out which bus you need - you may find multiple buses at the stop you want to get on, but unless you know the area, the names of the stops it goes to are fairly meaningless, unless you can find a bus site with a map of the routes (and sometimes not then either .

That's the beauty of apps like Citymapper, but yes it has been a barrier in the past

Great for cities, but if you are trying to get from one bit of rural England to another, not so much

ColdIron

It's made for cities as that's where the problems that it solves exist. Multiple routes, buses, unfamiliar names etc. For inter rural areas there's probably only one bus a few times a day and Google is probably all you need

macman

rebs said:

westv said:

poseidon1 said:

35har1old said:

smudger1964 said:

maman said:

westv said:

I'm a bit confused at to what the petition is about. 

At the moment, despite free bus passes being issued in all 4 countries and TfL, they aren't interchangeable.

 So if, for example, an English resident goes to Wales on holiday they can't use their free bus pass.

The petition calls for the bus pass to be valid across the UK. 

I misunderstood then I thought it was about people over 60 being able to get bus passes in England like they get them in Wales,Scotland and London.So making everyone in the UK equal

In NI you get you bus and train pass at 60 and when you reach 65 your are then entitled to travel all Ireland bus and rail

Same in London (60plus oyster). However freedom pass now linked to your normal retirement age ( currently 66 or 67).

What's the difference between the two?

The over 60 oyster has a nominal cost - initially £20 then £10 annually to renew.  Freedom pass is free.

And the zoning is slightly different. The Freedom Pass, for example, allows you to travel free on the full length of the Elizabeth line, The 60+ Pass limits you to Zones 1-6.
The former is gov't funded, the latter is funded by the London Councils.