General Chat

Re Scottish bus passes (mentioned by Andysmum) -

If I'm going to Glasgow or Edinburgh I go by bus, as that's free all the way - at least once I've driven 7 miles to catch the bus.
I would certainly miss the bus pass for that purpose.

But if I'm going to our local town for shopping, I go by car, as the local bus "service" is hopeless - only 2 buses per day, Mon - Sat, and the timing is far from user-friendly.


The discounted rail fares, unfortunately, are only for journeys in the Council area in which your pass is issued.
Not a lot of use in the Highland Region, where there are few rail routes.
In any case, I'm 20 miles from the nearest station, and would have to drive there, and then find space in a long-term carpark.

If I want to go from Fort William to Inverness (approx 70 miles) , for instance, the bus journey (once I've got to Fort William, that is) would take about 2.5 hours.
By train, the quickest way takes approx 9 hours, via Glasgow and Perth - a ridiculous tour all round Scotland.

In this area we necessarily use our cars for most travel, because of the lack of public transport.
A pay-per-mile system, which is rumoured to be a possibility, would work out very expensive for us.

I thought I would check our new bus service to confirm there was still no bus before 9.30 (there isn't ) - so I don't have to worry about that payment.
Only to find on checking that there is a crazy divert due to a road closure and I can't work out what that means for bus times - probably too early as buses haven't started yet. So will proabably drive into town this week as I know I want to go - deliveries permitting - awaiting 2.

I don't drive and since they stopped the bus to my immediate area, I have to walk about a third of a mile to the main road. I do this to be able to catch a bus to visit the doctor, put in a repeat prescription and then another day to collect the medication.
Should I want to go shopping, I catch a bus. To post a parcel or visit a Post Office, - the bus again.
Any social groups or a church visit all require a bus journey.

Apart from the lack of socialising and other amenities, no bus pass would mean quite an increase in expenditure.
A hospital visit especially would be expensive, as that's about 15 miles away.

Imagine being ill in hospital and any older visitors having to think hard about how many times they can afford to visit, if at all.

Yes we have Stagecoach and the £2 any journey which is good but no idea how long that will last even with a bus pass we have to pay before 0930

I’m getting closer and closer to being told I can no longer drive because of cataracts and very poor sight anyway so the bus will be very important to me.

At the moment it is £2 each way but I can pay an extra 10p and get 2 hours parking instead of 40 minutes or 2 hrs 40 mins ( as long as I go at certain times).

We just knew we would be robbed as soon as Labour got into power. To be expected after their past record in Government ,don't stand still as they will nick the milk of your tea next :-|

I use my bus pass a lot, but the bus fares here in Greater Manchester are capped at £2 per journey, so not too expensive for occasional use.

I took 5 years out for childcare (after that I was able to work around them) but was fortunate that I was covered by Home Responsibilities Protection for those years, so I didn't lose any stamps.
Out of all the mentioned possible losses my bus pass will be the one I miss the most.

I only retired in 2022, so have the 'pleasure' of being a 'WASPI' woman.

So, I worked an extra 6 years, paid tax and NI for an extra 6 years.
My pension is £3 a week too much for Pension Credit'

However, because I live in rented accommodation, anything over the Pension Credit level goes towards my rent and Council Tax - thus making me worse off than someone on Pension Credit!

It's at times like this, that I'm glad I never 'saved' for a pension - I knew I'd never be able to buy a house, and realised what would happen to my pension - It would disappear as rent..
As a (divorced) single parent, I also needed all my wages (remember, they were lower than men's wages) to bring up my children.

I found this online:

"The 2024 gender pensions gap report finds: Today, women retire on average with pension savings of £69,000, compared to £205,000 for men. In order to close this gap, a girl would need to start pension saving at just three years old, to retire with the same amount of money as working men."

So there's equality (NOT).

Women have to take time off work to bring up children - those 'beings' who, it seems will be paying our pensions!
Because of this, women lose out on their pension.
Then there's all the years we worked for less than men - and it's still happening.

So far they haven't mentioned taking away the Scottish bus passes. Some time ago the Scottish government said that the free pass more than paid for itself in the money it saved on mental health (loneliness), the local economy (keeping rural shops etc open) and keeping local clubs and societies running by allowing people to get there.

Ours are travel passes in that they allow discounted rail fares as well as free bus travel and they cover the whole country, not just the local council area. I haven't paid a bus fare for 20 years, but I think the local fare into town is now about £10 each way - 15 miles/45 minutes.

I don’t know why they call it a ‘widows’ tax. There are plenty of younger people out there living on their own. Both my kids live on their own and doubling their council tax would cause them huge problems.

Joan, you reminded me of someone I once knew. She was incandescent that tax was being taken off Her pension rather than her late husbands widows mite. She couldn’t take on board that it really made no difference and that HMRC had opted for one rather than the other.

Londonbelle - I get fed up with the complaint that we are all well off and we should give it all up for struggling families ( and some unions) Most of us were once struggling families - so is it fair that we suffer twice.

It sounds to me more like crumbly bashing :-|

First the Winter Fuel Allowance, then possible withdrawal of free bus passes and a possible 'Widow Tax' (taking away the 25% reduction in Council Tax for single occupancy) :-|

Why don't they take away the £10 Christmas Bonus ( which in today's money would be worth £165) and be done with it :-|. Perhaps they'll increase the Christmas Bonus to £165;-)

Who would have thought a Labour Government would do this to Pensioners, it is nothing short of shameful :-|. All this to finance exorbitant pay increases for train drivers and junior doctors, anyone would think that they are the only ones who have had to dig deep over the last few years :-|

Names all so true. I think it will be an extremely bad move to take away the bus passes. I hope they have done a better research on this than on the heating fiasco. Possibly they want to kill us 'oldies' off, we are maybe a nuisance. No bus pass means no going out for many, no trips to town to mix with people, meet old friends so isolated at home and many giving up with cold and loneliness.

So most of us have lost our Winter Fuel payments. Now we may lose our free bus passes -
so rural buses ( where there are any) will die out as many are held together by the bus pass passengers.

so it will be difficule to get to the shops - so more people will supermarket shop on line.

So the village shops will die out because why pop down there for necessaties as you might as well have it delivered.

Pay by mile car charges may come in - so the online supermarket shop will cost more..

Never mind, the Govt are planning to bring in the assisted dying bill before Christmas
:-|
Couldn't they wait until the New Year.