Pensioners' free bus travel to be curbed (From The Argus)
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Pensioners' free bus travel to be curbed
11:50am Sunday 22nd March 2009 in
Thousands of pensioners entitled to free bus travel will have their wanderlust curbed.
The Government has ruled that some companies will now be exempt from the controversial concessionary bus fares scheme.
Travel firms such as National Express and Megabus will now be allowed to opt out.
A Department for Transport spokesman said the move would close loopholes which allowed free travel on routes that were never intended to be in the scheme.
But Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson, the shadow minister for older people, criticised the changes.
He said they made a nonsense of the scheme if some companies were allowed to pull out as they pleased.
Mr Waterson said: "It is another blow for hard-pressed pensioners who have seen their cost of living rocket and the income from their savings plummet."
Since last April pensioners and disabled people have been able to use their bus passes to travel for free on all local buses in the UK.
This has included more than 100 services run by National Express which runs coaches from Brighton, Eastbourne and Chichester to London, from Brighton to Gatwick, and from Eastbourne to Portsmouth.
The Argus exclusively revealed in January that the DfT was conducting a review after lobbying from operators.
The DfT spokesman said the review had now been concluded and had successfully found ways of "tightening up" the legislation around coaches, tour buses and park-and-ride services.
He said: "These kinds of services were never intended to be included and we have now amended that."
National Express will start charging again on April 1.
A spokeswoman for the firm said the move would simplify what had become a difficult situation.
She said: "Our services are supposed to be pre-booked so the only time people were able to use them for free was if they waited at a stop and a coach arrived which was not fully booked.
"This often provided a problem with people having to be turned away at the roadside. That was not good for the people who were waiting or for our drivers who had to turn them away."
In January statistics showed 22,500 free trips had been taken on coaches.
It had yet to be clarified whether National Express would still be able to claim the fuel subsidy it received for operating services designated as local.
Comments(22)
Surely not
says...
12:38pm Sun 22 Mar 09
If there is a problem it might be more in the evening rush-hour from, say, 4.30 to 6pm.
I would be interested to know if the 'free' passes are in fact subsidising fares for others. The councils pay a discounted fare for each use of a 'free' pass. The reality is that seats which would otherwise be empty during most of the day are now making a return for the bus companies. The added cost to the bus companies must be very marginal as I am not aware of extra buses being run, except perhaps on the B&H '12/12A' route.
Perhaps someone could tell us.
S.T. Rewth
says...
12:54pm Sun 22 Mar 09
The buses run anyway and ARE already subsidised in one way or another by public money so make in the words of John Otway make it REALLY FREE.
Granny
says...
2:30pm Sun 22 Mar 09
freddo
says...
2:59pm Sun 22 Mar 09
BTW I had a bus pass day last week (i usually use my bike) and collected 16 tickets - does Roger French get 16 fares? Without bus pass, i would have got a day saver...
snerper
says...
4:00pm Sun 22 Mar 09
Brap Brap wrote:You cheeky little bar steward, there are more old folks willing to get up early and be out and about than there are young dossers who rely on the state to fund them and never get out of there pits until the crack of noon at the earliest!
Can't we also apply a time curfew? For example, on the trains you can't travel before 10 with a Young Person's Ticket. Maybe do that; no old people till midday.
I'm not saying the majority of the younger people are lazy, just the minority, which category do you fall into I wonder? Please don't be too offended by my asking, but you started it, so there!
S.T. Rewth
says...
4:46pm Sun 22 Mar 09
Granny wrote:The keyboaaard sticcckkkk and all the kwsts ar an the wrangggg placcee
What on earth is S T Rewth talking about? Can someone please translate for me and I'm not referring to the spelling either.
Scoomer
says...
5:34pm Sun 22 Mar 09
Guerrero
says...
7:31pm Sun 22 Mar 09
S.T. Rewth
says...
7:51pm Sun 22 Mar 09
Happy Free Tripping!
Jim BB
says...
9:24pm Sun 22 Mar 09
Many pensioners have paid tax and NI for over 40+ years and pay council tax so deserve something for free. Some weren't even told they can now travel on the buses for free from 9am - it was 9.30 for those outside Brighton until recently.
Mr. Kipling
says...
12:22am Mon 23 Mar 09
colavey
says...
5:22am Mon 23 Mar 09
Cooldude
says...
6:15am Mon 23 Mar 09
S.T. Rewth wrote:Do you mean "moaney", judging by the tone of many of the comments on this subject
The problem lies with tha FACT that it is NOT Free travel. The bus company still get the maoney fron the council tax. The buses run anyway and ARE already subsidised in one way or another by public money so make in the words of John Otway make it REALLY FREE.
davyboy
says...
7:46am Mon 23 Mar 09
freddo wrote:councils only pay a certain %age of the full adult fare each time a pass is used. depending on the council, it is somewhere between 60-70%. NAT-EX only offered free travel on certain routes as they were classed as stage travel, ie various stops en-route. if i recall correctly, if there is more than 30 kms between stops, it does not qualify for stage travel.
thanks Argus - until today i didn't realise i could use my bus pass on National Express coaches! the scheme should be extended to wales and Scotland - it's unfair that i can only get as far as Bewick-on-Tweed with the old bus pass!
BTW I had a bus pass day last week (i usually use my bike) and collected 16 tickets - does Roger French get 16 fares? Without bus pass, i would have got a day saver...
Osama bin there
says...
8:30am Mon 23 Mar 09
So pensioners get free travel, and the bus company makes a bit more money. How does that not work?
BBBrighton
says...
10:25am Mon 23 Mar 09
Osama bin there
says...
11:25am Mon 23 Mar 09
BBBrighton wrote:If they put the prices up anymore they'll all be driving around empty during the day.
it doesnt work because Mr French and the other greedy bus company directors would like the FULL fare from each passenger and not the current percentage they get. I feel so sorry for these bus companies they must really be approaching the poor house, what with the (slight) reduction in fuel costs which has not been extended a reduction in the ticket cost means a big far profit for the chain smokin 30stone blah blah blah drivers and an even fatter bonus for its directors.
They nearly are anyway.
caeos
says...
5:09pm Mon 23 Mar 09
davyboy
says...
5:41pm Mon 23 Mar 09
caeos wrote:the driver receives his printout for his bookings before he boards his passengers, so is fully aware of how many people he has on. national journeys were not meant to be included in this scheme, but the anomoly of distances between stops made sure that certain routes, or parts thereof, fell into the criteria of allowing free travel.
i think the problem with NATEX pre book is the drivers dont know whose booked or not on the day. should they allow a free pass on at pool valley if there is space, but nearer london when the bus is full, and a pre paid gets on, kick of the free pass?
pauli
says...
8:46pm Tue 24 Mar 09
Lofts
says...
10:40am Fri 27 Mar 09
It was something to do with the distance between, and number of stops made by the bus. This classified it as a 'Stage carriage' for which the rebate was available, and an 'Express Carriage' for which it was not available.
Will National Express now stop claiming this rebate?
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Brap Brap says...
12:07pm Sun 22 Mar 09
Maybe do that; no old people till midday.