General Chat

If you are a pensioner, how important is your Bus Pass, in Greater London your Freedom Pass, to you and should eligibly for a Bus Pass/Freedom Pass be means tested, if so what should the income threshold be?

I ask this because it is being reported today that elderly and disabled passengers could lose vital bus services because of cuts in government funding, councils in England warn.

The Local Government Association (LGA) says support for the concessionary fares scheme has been reduced by over a third since 2010.

Under the scheme, councils have to provide free off-peak travel for those aged over 62 or disabled.

The government says it provides funding to meet subsidised travel costs.

Local authorities say the funding from central government for concessionary fares has been cut by £261m since the coalition came to power.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26385176

Do you know that a English bus pass is not valid in Wales and vice versa

:-S

OH has a bus pass - I don't. We live in a semi-rural area where buses connecting the large populated areas with the nearest town run every 90 mins.

As our car was out of action for a week recently, we (or rather OH) had to use the bus to get about. The vast majority of fellow passengers where of pensionable age. If the bus service had become uneconomical to run, he would have found it almost impossible to get about.

Means testing would probably cost more than it would save. Other suggestions have been to pay a flat annual fee, or a minimal amount per journey backed up by the bus pass. The last time I used the bus about 5 years ago, the return fare to the town was over £5. It's probably gone up now!

+++DetEcTive+++ I tend to agree that means testing would probably cost more than it would save, and I think that if they took pensioners bus passes away - there would be very few buses running between say 9.00am and 4.30pm as there would be very few passengers between those times ;-)

Personally although I have a bus pass I have used it for travel only once. I have made more use of it as Photo ID when making largish purchases with my credit card.

I am very much against means tested benefits. If something is a benefit then it should be available to all irrespective of a persons current financial circumstances.

That said however you do see some ridiculous situations such as the couple who live opposite me. Both make frequent almost daily use of the bus that passes our homes to visit the nearby shopping centre. Their circumstances are such that they obviously don't need a free bus pass. Two years ago they had major building work done to convert their 3 bedroom detached bungalow into a 6 bedroom, 4 bathroom two storey detached house. Add to that their brand new Range Rover which stays on their drive whilst they use the bus to do their shopping.

Perhaps a compromise where a qualifying adult pays only a child's bus fare might be a solution.

It said in our local paper that the funding to our council for concessionary fares had been cut by a third. If they do away with the concession altogether would they lose the other 2 thirds.........or is the money not ringfenced and will be swallowed up with the rest that they waste on gimmicky ideas?

Detectives suggestion of a cheaper fare or a flat rate would seem a better way forward rather than removing the concession altogether. I really hate all this means testing that is always put forward!! It means that those that have worked hard to look after themselves keep having what they worked hard for eroded and chipped away at by one thing or another till they can be worse off than someone who gets allsorts by being just the other side of the benefit doorway.

We can use bus passes on the local park and ride, but they have now stopped the buses travelling to the city hospital............just where a lot of pensioners need to go for appointments and could save a bomb on carparking!!

I don't know why there is this attack on concessions that pensioners have anyway. The young seem to think we are well off because some of us own our own houses, but who is it that has lost out on the interest on savings.......so that the interest on mortgages could be reduced to help younger people?

Our Spanish bus passes entitle us to around 60% off the full fare. I don´t use mine much in the winter. There aren´t many places to go in Menorca!!!, but in summer I use it most days, especially when we have friends staying. We have a car, but find that with the price of petrol & parking charges, it´s cheaper to use the bus.
Also, as Jonesy said, it´s useful as ID because it has a photo & ID number on it.

Jonesey wrote "Personally although I have a bus pass I have used it for travel only once. I have made more use of it as Photo ID when making largish purchases with my credit card."

Snap. I was so looking forward to getting mine. And for last 4 months of 2013 I had no car and a bus stop right outside. Used it once - for a one mile journey that took me 3 miles and 10 minutes. So after that I always walked down to town briskly.

What happened to the Sheffield scheme of about 30 years ago. Loads of buses and all free. Blunkett's idea. Paid by ratepayers. My sil (who lived/lives in a big house and paid/pays loads of rates) was a big fan and they hardly ever took their cars into Sheffield town centre whilst it was running.

Not sure that interest rates on mortgages has been reduced to help younger people?

I had never paid more than 5% interest going back 30+ years but all I was allowed to borrow was 3 1/2 times MY salary....how much would that give me on todays average wage in the greater London area?

As for buses I don't use them although I probably could get some sort of bus pass if I wanted

My nearest town is Orpington which is about 3 miles from where I live and because of my mobility problems I tend to use my mobility scooter to get there, bus pass is handy for getting to appointments at local main hospital though, however it is no use for appointments at specialist hospitals like Kings College Hospital, due to my mobility problems I need to use a taxi and they cost about £30 each way :-(

I think that as a bus pass is part of pensioner benifits then it should stay that way,

A large persentage don't use it anyway but for thoughs who do it's essential and means testing would cost far more than would be saved so to me it's a no brainer, May be thats the problem? the person who thought of it has NO BRAIN

John, I lived in and around Sheffield and Blunkett and Co where and are always very willing and ready to spend other peoples money,

The bendy bus he decided to buy just because he wanted Sheffield to be the first place in the UK to have one and at the rate payers expence in the 70's which was actualy illegal to charge any passenger so it was free for everyone was his brainchild as was the rate payers funding an extractor fan in the council chamber because his guid dog used to fart and stink the place out but he insisted it be by his side at all times and refused to leave the dog at the door to the chamber, I see in more recent time his guid dog became transformed into Tony Blair

Roy

Ex rate payer to Sheffield council who paid over £2000 per year rates in 1976 for my 3 bed house so that man could waste it as he saw fit.

Why am i still paying council tax when other people eaning a wage are not

Bring back the poll tax,

Sorry for the rant but every time i hear the name Blunkett it just makes me very angry

That told me, Roy :-D :-D :-D Yes, I do remember rates being ridiculously high in Sheffield, and also in Wolverhampton. It was half rates for my brother just over border of Wolverhampton in Salop. His side of road - £400. Other side an exorbitant £800!! Shock!! Thought Sheffield was about same as W'ton, to be honest.

Must admit that I think it would make far more sense to let young people travel to work free. I would be mortified if I was on minimal wages and with a young family and had just got a job in Orpington and Cardiff or central London and had to pay these fares. To see us fairly comfortably off grey parade waving our bus passes all day must really rub it in.

We have an excellent service here to either Cheltenham or Gloucester and we do use our passes at least once most weeks sometimes twice. The buses have a large proportion of bus pass holders on, going into both towns. I suspect that while in town, most people like us spend some money, even if on a cup of coffee. If we didn't have passes, even though we are not on the bread line, we would not be able to travel to town twice a week so in the long run the local economy would suffer. And the car parks would be full and pollution from traffic worse.

Maybe they should look at other ways of making/saving money rather than always wanting to attack the pensioners.

I live in Scotland and both OH and I have bus (and ferry) passes. We are fairly close to the village but 15 miles from the nearest town. I use the car to do a weekly shop, but am happy to use the bus (hourly) if I don't have much to carry.

Before fares became free there was a flat rate of 50p for pensioners which was good value if you live as far out as we do. The funding for the concessions goes straight to the bus companies. I think they claim monthly and use the tickets to back up the claim.

Yes, and if you don't watch them they fiddle the council. Several times my ticket has said either Gloucester or Cheltenham when we have been going home and getting off half way.

I applied for mine as soon as I was 60. At that time they could not be used before 09:30. So I also bought a pay-as-you-go Oyster Card. Used that to go to work (06:30) and the Freedom Pass to get home. On average the Oyster fares cost the same as the petrol for the previous car journeys. Therefore some money from me to London Transport - and less pollution from my car.

So reinstate the rush hour ban?
Or increase the applicable age to, say, 65?

My OH doesn't drive so his bus pass is wonderful - no more driving him wherever he wants to go - it was bad enough having to drive the kids around!

Although it may vary from English area to area, the bus pass can only be applied for when the person reaches female retirement age. That is being escalated until parity with the males 65 is reach in 2018.

OH's can't be used before 9.30 am.

As to the affluent using the bus to get into town - don't blame them as there is no hassle in parking + they are doing their bit to reduce their carbon footprint. They've paid into the system, so good on them getting some of the perks.

Rarely use mine, maybe only six times a year.

Like Inky1 I received mine at age 60 and as I was still working paid bus fare at 6 am but used my pass coming home in the afternoon for just over two years until I retired. As I was earning and also receiving my state pension I did feel guilty by using it, but then as I was being taxed on my salary and also my pension I now think that I was entitled to use it.

We can't use ours before 0930 weekdays