Have free bus pass, want to travel.

bryanb

Big, front page article in the Oxford mail yesterday. Apparently the city council will have a shortfall of £400,000 this year due to people using bus passes. The problem seems to be that all the users from the surrounding districts travel in to the city, but when they return, the council of the area where the return journey commences pick up the tab. The city council is relatively small compared to the surrounding district councils, so I suppose they have got a point.

Merrywidow

Well I would have thought they would have worked that one out beforehand. Having said that my friends travel around a lot more now its for free and they plan a week ahead where they will go. I think it has done wonders for us oldies, we are not used to getting something for nothing and its lovely to leave our surroundings for a few hours. Just think of the lovely people I have met in this thread, stretched my horizon - lovely.

bryanb

Merrywidow wrote: »

Well I would have thought they would have worked that one out beforehand. Having said that my friends travel around a lot more now its for free and they plan a week ahead where they will go. I think it has done wonders for us oldies, we are not used to getting something for nothing and its lovely to leave our surroundings for a few hours. Just think of the lovely people I have met in this thread, stretched my horizon - lovely.

This particular city council is not renowned for working things out beforehand. I'm enjoying using the pass, although wife is not old enough yet, so we consider it as half price travel.

Errata

Scarborough, Filey and some south coast resorts councils are saying they can't afford the scheme. In Scarborough's case the council says the shortfall for them this year will be nearly a million pounds.

Merrywidow

Wow that's a lot of money. Hope this is not going to result in cancellation of the scheme. The uproar would be catastrophic. I live in the South but I have heard no rumbles as yet - will let you know. By the way I'm a Saltburn girl - been a long time.

Errata

I can't figure out why Scarborough council appear to be bearing the full costs. I would have thought the cost would have been shared with the surrounding district councils eg Driffield etc. which is were a many of the journeys originate. Odd.

Merrywidow

Yes but check out what Bryanb is saying. If they all come from surrounding areas to one spot ie. Scarborough, they will all be returning to different areas from ONE spot - i.e. Scarborough they will pay the bill. They have to find a way to register the journey once as a return at the commencement of the journey and showing their pass on the return journey would only be a formality. Hey! the councils are paid to figure this out!!

Pete268

I think the problem with councils in touristy places such as Scarborough, York etc is not only the council having to pay for people to 'return home' but also the increased use of the local 'town' buses whilst people are holidaying there.

I live just north of York and York City Council say it is also costing them a lot as all the 'town' trips have to be paid for as well which is way in excess of what Central Government allocated.

Peter

donnajunkie

councils in tourist areas conveniently forget how much money these people spend in their areas when they are complaining about the cost.

JAKMAR

islandman wrote: »

If you have a free bus pass and want to travel, like most other people, you are only familiar with the services within your borough/county. For example within Northants, there is a service X4 which runs between Peterborough & Milton Keynes, albeit through Kettering/Wellingborough/Northampton. This would be ideal for covering a fairly long distance free, something we are unable to do with coach operators.

It occurred to me that if a few people from every county, submitted details ie destination/frequency/journey times maybe we could produce an interesting/useful piece of information which could appear on it's own website. (I have to say I know nothing about producing websites).

What we don't want I feel, is information from subscribers saying negative things like "we don't use public transport" or "we don't have many buses where we live". No, this is aimed at people who do use public transport or would like to, but are as yet, unsure how and when.

I will copy and post this on another site and see how it develops in the next couple of days. If you do subscribe, I think it is quite important to include information such as this 9.30am start if it applies in your county as half the country does and half doesn't. If anyone can think of anything which might also be included, then feel free to make the suggestion.

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I wish someone would set up a site specificly for The Free Bus Pass with Info
on how get from one Place to another. Since the pass came out I have been searching for one and these pages are the closest I have come to so far. So come on someone with savvy get it up and running as I am sure it would be a Very Very BIG HIT with us all.
JAKMAR
PS. This is My first visit on here and find it very Informative. Thank You All