School children should receive free bus travel before pensioners?

You are wrong. People get Pip if they meet the descriptors. An assessor doesn't sit going Im going to turn this person down because there's not enough money in the pot. As I said previously assessors don't always get the decisions right. Some people will have health conditions but you get Pip based on how those conditions affect your daily life. There are people who are disabled who won't meet the Pip or ADP descriptors.

Many people get it at tribunal. It's not an easy process. I got Lcwra at tribunal on attempt number 3.

Yes Scotland is subsided but it's not as if we give nothing to the UK economy.

I'm quite aware of child poverty. The Scottish government also gives a child poverty payment to families who qualify and that's one of the reasons free school meals were introduced

My point is that pensioners shouldn't lose their bus passes.

Yes that's right. Because she was a teacher on a salary and not a hedge fund billionaire

That's not what you were suggesting initially. You were suggesting that people don't get Pip because there's a limited pot of money. That's not the case. Don't tell me as a disabled person who has been through the process what I think. My argument was NOT to get super rich people to pay for everything. You're the person who started talking about hedge fund billionaires

And now you think I'm saying this because it "makes me look kind ".

Once more -I live in Scotland where both sets of people get bus passes.

Your child is going to a school where the fare cap won't decrease her bus fare yes. Tenner a day. 2k a year. So how would lower income families be able to afford those fares. That bus company is rinsing you. That's the issue. I went on a 140 mile round trip last year with a private bus company. 25 quid.

How would pensioners not getting bus passes help your child access cheaper fares to school

How many billionaires don't pay their share of tax. How many companies don't pay their fair share (Amazon and more).

As I've said before on this thread, there are two net contributing regions in the whole of the UK. City of London and the SE.

The third highest region in terms of contributing is Scotland.

We therefore aren't subsidised as much as every single other region in the UK.

I was completely isolated before I got my disability bus pass because I couldn't afford bus travel. In Scotland the bus company gets 53 per cent of the fare back plus a small add-on. In England the premise is that the bus company would not be better nor worse off due to bus passes

There are people who use the bus more because they have a pass. I'm one of them. So if last week I wanted to make a bus journey to Glasgow before the cap came in it would have cost 7 pounds 65. The bus company would get 53 per cent back. As opposed to me sitting in the house going nowhere because I couldn't afford to go anywhere

We really don't all pay much more tax in Scotland. Some people in Scotland even pay less income tax than in England. We pay DIFFERENT taxes.. stamp duty for instance is higher, but tbh having lived in both Countries I think Scotland is by FAR more effective in how it generates and allocates tax revenue. It espouses increasing public transport usage AND puts its money where its mouth is. Not saying it's perfect here but it is better.
And I don't hear bitter people here saying pensioners are less deserving of anything. Maybe Scotland and its people are just a bit more empathetic? We don't get off on pitting the young against the elderly..

👏👏👏

Transport is free within school catchment areas. If you chose to go outside the catchment area, that's a personal choice, why should the government fund it?
Pensioners are more likely to suffer physical impairment which might make it impossible for them to drive or walk for long distances.
On a limited income, without a free bus pass, transport costs for pensioners could be prohibative.Would you deny them social contact, and therefore affect their mental well-being because they can't afford to travel ?
Pensioners are also more likely to have to travel to hospital appointments. Would you deny them medical care because they can't get to hospitals?
I doubt very much whether the average pensioner could afford taxis to get about.
The OP has choices on how far away her child's school is and whether the child can walk or be bussed in. Many pensioners have no choices regarding transport.

You keep repeating “prevalence” as if that magically removes the problem with your comparison. It doesn’t. Prevalence is still defined within the measurement system used for that age group. You can’t lift two different diagnostic frameworks, apply them to two biologically different populations, and then claim the resulting percentages are directly comparable. Every public‑health body explicitly warns against doing exactly that.

You’re also overstating what your own example shows. A 10‑year‑old with a BMI of 23 is classified as obese because children have very different fat‑mass trajectories, growth patterns, and health risks. That’s precisely why childhood obesity is treated as a high‑risk category even though the raw percentage is lower. The NHS doesn’t consider pensioners a high‑risk obesity group; it does consider children one. That alone tells you the interpretation isn’t as simple as “higher percentage = more obese population.”

So yes, you can say “X% of adults meet the adult definition” and “Y% of children meet the child definition.” But that still doesn’t justify your claim that “pensioners are more obese than children” in any meaningful or policy‑relevant sense. It only tells you that adults and children are assessed using different tools designed for their physiology.

And on the bus‑pass point: We actually agree that obesity isn’t relevant to transport policy. You escalated a throwaway comment into a statistical argument that doesn’t support the conclusion you’re trying to draw. If your real argument is simply that children should have subsidised transport, that’s a perfectly reasonable position - it just doesn’t require misusing obesity data to get there. In fact stop abusing data to support your false premise, point blank.

I’m happy to leave it there too but I have a feeling you will keep coming back quoting "warped" figures to prove your argument until we run out of room on the thread!

Low income families can apply for free school transport, why not leave the pensioners alone and just stop giving out all non means tested benefits.

I agree that under 18s should receive free bus travel. Though I also agree with @gerispringer that a lot of youngsters are fit enough to walk a couple of stops. I was on holiday last week where I was using a lot of buses and was amazed about the short hops people were doing. I am sure they weren't all disabled!

And pensioners shouldn't receive it until they are over 75 or are told they can't drive anymore. The idea is that they get free bus travel because they don't have access to a car, but many retired people are very well off, and are also fit enough to drive.

I also don't understand why you get free prescriptions from 60 when retirement age isn't until 67. My DH gets them and he still works full-time.

I dont suppose pensioners would want to walk that far either, have you considered getting your dc a bike.

Free school transport is awarded on distance to your local school. Not income.

What happens when you can't drive at all?

Its the law that pensioners are entitled to free bus travel but as far as I'm aware it's linked to state pension age in England and not in Wales, Scotland or NI

Tackling social isolation was a huge reason why free passes were bright in and being able to give people independence if they had to or decided to give up driving

My mum doesn't drive and never has and she's far from rich. Retirement age used to be 60 for women which is why I assume in England prescriptions are free from age 60

My mum doesn't drive and never has. I don't drive either but even if I could I wouldn't be able to afford to buy a car and run it. Some people obviously can't drive for medical reasons

And trains too… £5 per day on train fares for my oldest.
Local school is abysmal (results way below national average, massive bullying problem, and no safe way to walk there either)

I chose to live rurally and to send my daughter to a ‘better’ school than the one free transport travels to so it’s all on me. I drive her every day because she shouldn’t be punished for my decisions to live here!

And tbh reading some of the comments on this thread from posters based in England about why pensioners shouldn't get benefits whilst their children should, is why I am SOOO glad and proud to live in Scotland.
I have NEVER heard people here heap the bitter, divisive comments on our older Scottish citizens that some of the (English) commenters here on MN make about pensioners in England!

That's bound to happen in some cases, I agree. But it doesn't change my opinion. Personally I don't consider the British public to be 'greedy' for wanting the tax system to cover the things it's supposed to cover.