AIBU to think that old folk sholdn't be allowed to use their bus passes before 10am!

[Saltire]

And also AIBU to not understand why First bus have changed the bus times.

Ihave had to walk 2.5 miles to work today and 2.5 miles back a gain and feel ill, my legs are sore, my feet are numb and sore, I am worn out and am almost crying with fatigue.
Why did I have to do this?
Beause 1st bus have cut the number and size of buses "because they are losing money due to the number of pensioners with buss passes using teh service".
So what happens? All the pensioners get on the smaller buses (27 seaters instead of double decker) buses and fill them up, then every single other person waiting at stops along the way can't get on because bus is fulll and drives right past. Twice. in one morning.

Why do they feel the need to be on the first buses of the day? Can't they wait and let those who need to go to work get on the buses? Then coming back the 2.15 was full - again a 27 seater, all pensioners, and if I'd waited till the next one wouldn't have been home in time for DSes

[claw3]

Where i live pensioners are not allowed to use their passes before 9am to avoid the rush.

Cant you get an earlier bus?

[NeedaNewName]

Whilst we're at it can we also say they can't use tubes and trains in rush hour and tourist who don;t know where they're going!!!!!

BTY befoe anyone gets their knickers in a complete twist I am joking as I'm sure Saltire is (OK well maybe!)

[Saltire]

Claw - They are not allowed to use their passes before 9.30, but on the route I take the 09.45 bus is the first bus that leaves the nearby village, so it leaves there are 09.35, so they ll use that bus, then the one at 10.30 is filled with oldies from Gosport, again filling it completely. I start work at 11am and a already getting the 09.45 bus, if I get an earlier one it will get me into town at 09.20, 1 hour and 40 minutes before I am due to start

needanewname - i am not joking

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

ive been made to get off a bus before with 2 under 2 because some old codger needed space for her walking frame! i paid, she didnt, hows that chuffin fair!

[Saltire]

6 of us today were waiting for the bus and each of us would have paid, yet the full bus drives past full of oldies none of whom have paid, so how can that help them save money?

[TheHeadbangingWombat]

You'll be an old codger yourself some day Beanies,and will very possibly require the use of a Zimmer frame.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I do feel sorry for you - you must be knackered.

However, it does seem that the bus you catch is not a 'commuter' bus, and the OAPs probably would want to catch the first bus. There is nothing you would be able to do to stop them doing that, that is their right.

The fault lies with the damn bus company for cutting the routes, and probably if you look further back, the selling off of formerly state run bus services back in the dim and distant past.

Do you know if this route is subsidised by the council? It may well be worth writing to your council and/or First to complain about it.

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

hate 'old codger'. man alive, what way is that to speak about someone?

saltire, that situation does sound unmanageable, what about phoning firstbus?

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

well i can only hope that when i do im a nice lady and dont feel the need to allow a mum and two children to be kicked off of a 40min bus journey in january!

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I know how you feel, btw, First used to run the bus I had to get to and from work. The problem was not pensioners, just the cheap, crap First people not putting enough buses and drivers on so the routes had tooo few buses on and they were always late. I used to stand at the bus stop in tears many a time, either worried I would be late for work, or worried i would be late in collecting dd. They are hateful.

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

oh and she was only going to the next stop, i passed her as i walked the rest of the way!

[BlingLoving]

YABU.

If your post said, AIBU to start shouting, writing and camping out to make the bus company put on more/bigger busses then YANBU.

It's not the pensioners' fault. it's the bus company that doesn't put on enough busses.

[Fennel]

It is a problem here too, we only have buses every 2-3 hours and the last time I tried to get on the bus it was already full of pensioners, and there was no room for those of us getting on who were paying - I was paying for 4 fares but there were no seats, and with small children on a hilly route that's not so much fun, it does put me off going on it more often as my youngest was falling about all over the place, and the other paying person behind us couldn't get on.

It can't be sustainable, if the paying customers can't actually get spaces on the buses, and the buses are full of people not paying.

we're in an area with a lot of pensioners and it's clearly an issue, this free bus thing doesn't seem to be working.

[spicemonster]

AFAIK it's the council that subsidise the free bus passes, not the bus company. You should write to your MP, to the council, to whoever but don't knock old people who are travelling after morning rush hour. It's not their fault you start work so late!

Have you considered getting a bicycle?

[Saltire]

There are hundred of pensioners here! The thing is why do hey have to get a bust at 09.30, or 09.45? They have all day to go shopping, I don't have all day to go to work

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I think the main problem is that something so fundamentally imortant as public transport provision should not imo be seen as something which is profit making. Bus companies have to squeeze services down to a shit level in order to make money. Somehting like this should be, in an ideal world, nationalised

[Saltire]

Spice - I can't bike, it hurts my legs and feet

[Saltire]

One of the old people punched me hard in the leg one morning last week. She told me I was " disrespectful and a cheeky little bitch"

[Saltire]

Old woman on a bus that is not some random punch by a pensioner on teh street

[giveloveachance]

BUT the pensioners HAVE paid for their passes - in council tax and so on for years.

My mum relies on her pass, without it she would be standed and unable to shop, get the doctors etc etc with out help.

She gets on before 9.30 and pays - to go and do unpaid voluntary work twice a week - she is 75 and is not an old codger as some posters have called the elderly.

Many many times she has been left standing or not able to get on the bus because of younger folk who don't offer her a seat or simply push passed her in the queue as they are quicker on their feet.

All those who resent them on the bus, wait till you are retired and too old to drive or struggling on a pension to afford a car.

[Fennel]

The answer can't be for otherwise paying customers to get a bike, cos the bus companies and councils do have to make their money from somewhere, our local council is, apparently, struggling due to having a lot of pensioners compared to people of working age so this bus thing is hitting them hard.

I don't NEED to use the bus to go into town, we have a car, I choose to sometimes because I want to use public transport, but with 5 of us paying fares it's cheaper and about as convenient by car, so in a way I don't need the bus but the bus company needs me and my 4 or 5 fares to survive. But we can't get on it recently, due to more pensioners travelling more often. and that has to be a problem.

it interests me, this issue of the pensioner free bus passes, because it sounds such a good thing, but it also resulted in the closure of our village shop, as the pensioners who used to use it now go to and fro into the nearby city much more often to do their shopping, so that's been another rather unexpected adverse effect of the free bus passes.

[TheHeadbangingWombat]

I don't think that I'd feel any better about possibly forcing an elderly woman with mobility problems off the bus. I'd sooner get off the bus than allow her to do so.

[Stigaloid]

YABU and rude. get up earlier and catch an earlier bus. Buy a bike or moped. 5 miles isn't far. Capernicus called and would like to inform you that you are, in fact, NOT the centre of the universe.

[MmeLindt]

YABU and should be complaining about the First Bus company trying to save money by cutting services and not the pensioners who are using their bus passes.

Why should they not go to shops/doc/visit friends or children when they want to?

The fault is the bus services, not the pensioners.

[OrmIrian]

Damn pesky old people

Hope we all die before we get old eh?

I'd better hurry up then.