Bus passes

[Tasker]

I love my bike and I love my bus pass. Where I live - in perhaps the most forgotten midlands town there is, most old people are very, genuinely poor. Without a bus pass to get into town for a few hours they would be condemned to a 24 hour life of hell in the multi-cultie, chav ridden hell-holes that litter the outskirts.

Just don't insult them by urging them 'To get a bike!'

They're so wreaked they can barely make it to the bus stop as it is.

[mercalia]

I love my bike and I love my bus pass. Where I live - in perhaps the most forgotten midlands town there is, most old people are very, genuinely poor. Without a bus pass to get into town for a few hours they would be condemned to a 24 hour life of hell in the multi-cultie, chav ridden hell-holes that litter the outskirts.

Just don't insult them by urging them 'To get a bike!'

They're so wreaked they can barely make it to the bus stop as it is.

sorry to hear that. I dont think any one here has made any insults of any kind?

[Tasker]

You're right, they didn't - just trying to spike potential guns. Sorry to all

[Sweep]

The free bus pass for old folk was one of the few very definitely good things new labor did.

It must surely have contributed massively to elderly mental health and stopped many folk feeling closed in.

Hopefully it will live long long after Blair's project is forgotten.

Anyone know who was responsible for pushing it through?

Ps, tasker, nice last post of yours - i do keep wishing there was a "like" button on here.

[Mick F]

Heard on the radio the other day, that all bus journeys start and end with a walk, therefore car sharing or taxis are better for the infirm and the old.
This is especially true round here with the steep hills. Some folk cannot walk to the nearest shops ............ well, they can walk there, but not home again with heavy shopping.

I drive the local community bus and have done for nearly ten years. Over those years, I've seen the use dropping off. The usual customers are the elderly - though it is open to all ages! - and we aren't running out of elderly people, but bus use is still waning.

Ten years ago, the elderly bus users were mainly women - generally widows. It would seem that when their menfolk were alive, they did the driving and when they died, the widow sold the car because she'd never learned to drive.

These days, there are more and more elderly ladies driving, or at least friends of elderly ladies are driving. Consequently, the bus isn't getting used like wot it used to.

[rmurphy195]

Living in South Birmingham, my bus pass covers a lot of London Midland train routes (inc Wolverhampton, Coventry and almost to Lichfield!). So I can (and sometimes do) load the bike onto the train, got to e.g. a couple of stops short of Lichfield, and have a bit of a pedal around the countryside and back to the station. Or other routes as required.

But on the other hand where I might have rode into the city centre, I'll now hop on a train or bus to get there. Especially since being rammed, on my bike, by a ***** driving a trannie pickup!

Usually the train though, it's a one and a bit mile walk to the station rather than a couple of hundred yards to the bus sop!

[MikeF]

As regards Senior Railcards it's worth checking if your local council, used to be parish/town councils around here, but now it's district councils. The subsidy varies according to where you live. Around here it now works by a code (different for each person!) being issued before application for the card, so you need to apply correctly to obtain the discount. I was lucky, I could have applied for a bus pass at 60 and I could have retired at 65 as I'm a "war baby"

[mercalia]

Living in South Birmingham, my bus pass covers a lot of London Midland train routes (inc Wolverhampton, Coventry and almost to Lichfield!). So I can (and sometimes do) load the bike onto the train, got to e.g. a couple of stops short of Lichfield, and have a bit of a pedal around the countryside and back to the station. Or other routes as required.

But on the other hand where I might have rode into the city centre, I'll now hop on a train or bus to get there. Especially since being rammed, on my bike, by a ***** driving a trannie pickup!

Usually the train though, it's a one and a bit mile walk to the station rather than a couple of hundred yards to the bus sop!

seems like those living in metroland get more than a bus pass? Its a shame these extras only aply to locals

[John Holiday]

At present in this part of North Wales we still have a pretty good bus service,so frequently use my Bus Pass in conjunction with my Brompton. Gives good connection with Rail Services to remoter parts of UK.
One bus driver was recently amused to find that he had two folders on board,which he said was a 'first'!
As a National Standards Instructor in local schools,am still happy to use my bike on the roads, but also to make full use of my pass!
Have contributed to the Exchequer for nearly 50 years,so quite happy to be using any of the 'free' facilities available!

[rmurphy195]

...Have contributed to the Exchequer for nearly 50 years,so quite happy to be using any of the 'free' facilities available!

Ditto - couldn't wait for my turn to come up. Shame my wife(5 years younger than me) has to wait another 7 years (almost) for hers, means we'll still use the car more than I would like for some journeys.

By another 7 years I expect the "free" pass (That I've been paying for for years before I got one) will no longer be available under the "pensioners must bear some of the pain" slogan. But don't get me started on that one ...

[thirdcrank]

I used my own bus pass (picture somewhere on here ) yesterday. The bus was late so I used my latest technology - with apologies to horizon - to text West Yorkshire Metro for a GPS-powered eta: a snip at 12p. But hold on: that's almost a whole half crown, if you see what I mean. Leeds City Council used to have a cheap fares policy and for many years persisted with a starting point of tuppence ie 2d or slightly less than 1p. So it's something like twelve times as much to find out that the bus is late than it used to cost to ride on one.

Capstick comes home, and with a vengeance.

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=capstick+comes+home

[Ben@Forest]

I use the bus most of the time to get to the local town. I hardly ever go by bike its just two awful on really busy narrow roads. The bus is totally free and quicker too....

I love this 'totally free' concept. Somebody's paying for it and it is of course those of us who ain't going to retire till we're knocking 70 (and when the eligible age for getting a free pass will probably be 72). Plus the way the revenue payments have been made from the Exchequer to local councils to pay for this is actually having a deleterious effect on services. I'm not keen on posting a link from the Daily Mail but here it is:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ay-it.html

Let's hope pensioners get taxed more as soon as possible...

[MartinC]

.......Let's hope pensioners get taxed more as soon as possible...

...................so they can subsidise your car.

[thirdcrank]

... Let's hope pensioners get taxed more as soon as possible...

I'll jump to the conclusion that you are a lot younger than me. You may well be spared a lot of the worry of growing old because euthanasia is surely on the way to deal with an ageing population.

[MikeF]

I love this 'totally free' concept. Somebody's paying for it and it is of course those of us who ain't going to retire till we're knocking 70 (and when the eligible age for getting a free pass will probably be 72). Plus the way the revenue payments have been made from the Exchequer to local councils to pay for this is actually having a deleterious effect on services. I'm not keen on posting a link from the Daily Mail but here it is:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ay-it.html

Let's hope pensioners get taxed more as soon as possible...

It sounds as though I might have paid for some of your education.