Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

[FANG]

I find it appalling that if you live in London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland then you are entitled to receive a free regional travel pass when you hit 60

However in every other place in the UK you are eligible for free regional travel when you reach state pension age.

Why do we put up with this this unfairness and what can we do to change this inequality.

Is this just another example of a post code lottery.   

[Bossybabe]

You can have my pass. I wouldn't be seen dead on a bus here. 

[dougless]

I agree with Fang and The Babe. But in all seriousness it is strange that we are prepared to put up with these inequalities.

[MattW]

In answer to the question: All the bloody time! Everything is bloody expensive.

I use the buses from time to time. Often to a destination where alcohol is going to consumed. £4.30 for a 2 trip ticket (return) on my route. Bus tickets are something i like to see subsidised if the powers that be want us to use our cars less often.

[CunningPlan]

On 30/08/2017 at 8:33 AM, Bossybabe said:

You can have my pass. I wouldn't be seen dead on a bus here. 

Why not? One of the things I was looking forward to post move was a bus service. What is wrong with it?

[frankief]

On 31/08/2017 at 1:21 PM, MattW said:

In answer to the question: All the bloody time! Everything is bloody expensive.

I use the buses from time to time. Often to a destination where alcohol is going to consumed. £4.30 for a 2 trip ticket (return) on my route. Bus tickets are something i like to see subsidised if the powers that be want us to use our cars less often.

Yes, public transport in the UK isn't such a cheap alternative.

I recently took my (old) car in for it's MOT.

I still use the same garage as always, the owner is honest and straightforward, but it is a few miles away from where I live now.

So to pick the car up - bus into town £3.50, wait around in the bus station, short hop out of town £2.50 (minimum fare), then 10 minutes walk.

Reverse trip when leaving car equals a total of £12. Buses were on time, just some passenger with leaking earphones spoilt a section of the journey.

Got me thinking that things are different from when I was young, a school leaver now in their first job could be in for something like £60/ week travel costs unless he can put up the money for a monthly saver pass. Could be 25 to 30% of his wage!

With that sort of outlay, getting a new car on one of these finance schemes and insuring in your grandad's name is looking a better option to some youngsters.

[happy_renting]

On 30/08/2017 at 4:04 AM, FANG said:

I find it appalling that if you live in London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland then you are entitled to receive a free regional travel pass when you hit 60

However in every other place in the UK you are eligible for free regional travel when you reach state pension age.

Why do we put up with this this unfairness and what can we do to change this inequality.

Is this just another example of a post code lottery.   

And, presumably women in England outside London also currently can get their bus pass at a younger age than men, as they reach retirment age earlier.

[RentingForever]

5 hours ago, happy_renting said:

And, presumably women in England outside London also currently can get their bus pass at a younger age than men, as they reach retirment age earlier.

My local council site says it kicks in at the female retirement age (60) for both men and women. Not sure if that's nationwide.

so presumably it will get hiked to 65 in just a few years.

[Bossybabe]

20 hours ago, CunningPlan said:

Why not? One of the things I was looking forward to post move was a bus service. What is wrong with it?

It's prohibitively expensive compared to other bus services; the only people who can afford it are pensioners and students. 

I did get a bus once from Ryde esplanade to East Cowes. I thought I was buying the bus, it was so expensive. The cost from the Cowes Park and ride to the Red Jet in Cowes, a 15 minute downhill walk, is £2.50. Taxis are very expensive too. I stick to the car. 

[Bossybabe]

6 hours ago, happy_renting said:

And, presumably women in England outside London also currently can get their bus pass at a younger age than men, as they reach retirment age earlier.

It's still 60 here for all. 

[crashmonitor]

I'm assuming there will be no new buses pass issued after about 2030 except for existing users. The only people who really need one are probably parents with kids not a cohort that controls 70% of UK wealth and has a slighter higher annual income than average now. The whole thing is ridiculous  and slightly uncomfortable seeing millionare pensioners boarding for free and a single mother with kids scraping together her last few coppers.

Even the fact that some pensioners are poor is not really a good enough reason for continuation. Minimum income guarantee, free rent and no council tax is still a whole lot better than about 40% of the working population.

Maybe there might be some justification relating to frailty and mobility though.

[Rhaegal]

If you've already got a car, going by bus is expensive. However, if your weighing up buying a car because the bus is expensive, your MOT+tax+insurance will buy a lot of bus tickets! (Before you consider the cost of the deposit+monthly payment or outlaying a huge wad of cash)

All depends on how much you need to travel, whether you can go point-to-point etc easily by public transport.

[frankief]

But the gap between car & public transport is getting smaller.

I noticed a local garage with a sign advertising a new car deal at £89/ month. Looking on the internet there are some cheaper than that.

MOT not required. Tax I presume will be low as these are 1 litre engines with presumably low emissions and they will also have good mpg figures.

As noted on other threads, finance is being thrown at people as the garages are keen to make space on their forecourt.

The sticking point for a youngster wanting his first car (getting his foot on the ladder ) is the deposit and insurance. This is often where mum & dad come in.

Just saying, a car share between two people might work out financially. Good for them, but it all contributes to a gridlocked road system during rush hour.

[The Knimbies who say No]

20 minute each way return trip on local bus = £4.30 round me, albeit in fairness that price is for an all day ticket. Only used it because the trains were not running. Train is similar cost for all day ticket but much more pleasant if not really any quicker.

Whatever the merits or otherwise of bus travel, I can't quite see a successful mass transport system while costs are comparable with private motoring on a per mile basis. It's pretty obvious why people who have to buy bus tickets use cars instead. It's often cheaper.

[Si1]

2 hours ago, The Knimbies who say No said:

.

Whatever the merits or otherwise of bus travel, I can't quite see a successful mass transport system while costs are comparable with private motoring on a per mile basis. 

??

We already have a successful mass transit system.

[Si1]

19 hours ago, Rhaegal said:

If you've already got a car, going by bus is expensive. However, if your weighing up buying a car because the bus is expensive, your MOT+tax+insurance will buy a lot of bus tickets! (Before you consider the cost of the deposit+monthly payment or outlaying a huge wad of cash)

All depends on how much you need to travel, whether you can go point-to-point etc easily by public transport.

Plus, monthly and annual bus tickets are usually good value, if you use them.

[The Knimbies who say No]

1 hour ago, Si1 said:

??

We already have a successful mass transit system.

What I mean is, there ought to be shedloads more buses and trains and loads fewer cars driving into urban areas. I can see why someone faced with a choice which is roughly equal in cost terms chooses a car. Buses should cost very little.

[SillyBilly]

4 hours ago, The Knimbies who say No said:

20 minute each way return trip on local bus = £4.30 round me, albeit in fairness that price is for an all day ticket. Only used it because the trains were not running. Train is similar cost for all day ticket but much more pleasant if not really any quicker.

Whatever the merits or otherwise of bus travel, I can't quite see a successful mass transport system while costs are comparable with private motoring on a per mile basis. It's pretty obvious why people who have to buy bus tickets use cars instead. It's often cheaper.

Yep. £4.20 return for me to get into the town centre about 3 miles away (albeit the bus goes round the houses). That'd cost me about 72p in petrol. I know plenty of places I can park for free as well.

[Rhaegal]

Sad thing is that this pales into insignificance when you look at the benefits of being brought up in Scotland and having your higher education paid for. Then just move south and apply for same jobs your peers from england/wales/n.ireland apply for. Get the job, have more disposable income, buy a house sooner etc.

[ExiledMatty]

Thatcher wasn't right about much, but when she said if you travel by bus then you are one of life's losers, she wasn't far off the money.

[onlooker]

44 minutes ago, ExiledMatty said:

Thatcher wasn't right about much, but when she said if you travel by bus then you are one of life's losers, she wasn't far off the money.

Almost certainly not true that she said this. She would not have been so crass.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Margaret_Thatcher

[Funn3r]

Public transport is great if you live in a huge city and London is the obvious example. It is certainly NOT great if you live near but not in such a metropolis because all the major routes radiate out from the city. If you want to go into or out of the city centre then maybe not too bad but if you want to travel across the radial lines you should just give up. For example Bracknell to Slough quite simple by car but truly awful on the bus.