To think this restriction should end earlier?

[LollipopViolet]

My council has introduced a rule that means if you have a bus pass, either for being over 60 or being disabled (like me - visually impaired) you can't use your pass before 9.30, you have to pay (£2 for a single fare here).

Now, this I've come to accept, councils will do these things etc.

BUT, AIBU to think that the restriction should end at maybe 8.30? People with disabilities, for example, need to get to work. I for one, can't drive. If they're going to issue the passes at all, shouldn't they be useable at a normal commute time? Some disabled people have a lot of extra things to pay for and a £2 daily bus fare can really add extra onto the month's outgoings.

Good point, Lollipop. YANBU. You have a bus pass because there's no way you can drive or cycle or walk long distances, but you can work so the restriction shouldn't apply. Will you start a campaign?

Clara, I get the mobility component - for me, it's not that much. It is a huge pain.

I agree, it should stand for the elderly, who could, for example, delay going shopping. I'm currently out of work but once I get a job, I can't delay going in, and I'll probably be spending more anyway (my night vision isn't great so in winter I'd probably get a taxi home depending on where the job was).

Ah well, such is life I suppose. At least I don't get this every day. Once was certainly enough!

I think people need to consider that statistically disabled people have more difficulty getting work, are likely to work part-time and hence be on a lower income, and have higher general living costs. Hence the need for help with getting to work more cheaply. Mobility allowance is very difficult to claim, you have to be pretty much unable to walk at all to claim higher rate and the government (surprise, surprise) are working hard to get rid of lower rate for most people.

I'm looking forward to September when dd goes to uni on the bus because in our district, where she gets on the bus you have to pay before 9.30am but the adjoining district (where her uni is) she can use the pass 24/7. I'm going to encourage her to pay to the border and travel free onward from there and see how they respond.

But my medical appointments don't always fit in with the bus times available, and changing a consultant's appointment can mean weeks difference sometimes. It does suck a bit.

It's probably a matter of economics and how much it costs to fund the passes. I've been a low income worker, a single parent, and used to spend a fortune commuting, it was too far to cycle and I didn't have a car. What about the unemployed who may be trying to get to job interviews or training on meagre wages. In the current climate of cuts, I just think people have to be grateful these passes exist at all.

So paying for a ticket once in a while when the rest of your journeys are paid for is a large hardship? Some times I think that even if you gave some people the earth they'd still feel entitled to more.

I agree with whereIleftit, and LucieMay, tbh.
We aren't living in an ideal world, we're living in a world where all councils (and indeed most individuals) are having to make cutbacks. To be fair, I think it's not unreasonable to ask why a person who is able to work / is in work should be getting a free travel pass at all. Presumably people who are in work have more money than people who are out of work (I just know someone's going to come along and be the exception on this, but generally). The rest of the time, even though you are in work, you can travel for free then ? Unlike other low income groups, like unemployed, 6thformers, students of any age, etc..

But even lower rate mobility is £20-something a week, which presumably more than covers 5xreturn journeys?

When it isn't covering other mobility needs. If you get it. I don't want the earth, I just want to get out of this black hole of debt and lack of independence caused by my being so ill. Some days I just don't have the bus fare, and that's a big difference between being able to go somewhere and not for me now.

Lolli, what area do you live in? Only, I live in NE and if you prove via writing to the travel company that supply your pass that you work/ student you get an all day pass. Ds2 has one.

Which area are you in? My local council introduced the same rule earlier this year but blind/visually imparied people can apply for a different pass (well, the same pass but it has a clock face on it) which allows them to travel at any time of the day.

I just got my Dad's sorted out this week

RabbitsMakeBrownEggs, for your consultant appointments would you be able to be supplied with hospital transport? I used to work at a hospital and many of the patients I dealt with I was also booking ambulance transport (basically a small minibus) for their next appointment.

That's possible, I am looking at a scheme where I can book a volunteer to take me and bring me home again, for about £15 a year. Guess I just like the independence of taking myself somewhere, rather than relying on other people, which I do a lot of already.

in London, the freedom pass for under 60s works all day

That must have changed then, because it didn't when I lived there.

Personally I'm pleased that I get a pass at all. I can't always use the bus but it gives me an option when I can.

I do think that passes for disabled people should be valid for working hours, otherwise it makes a mockery of trying to help disabled people be economically independent.

Is the thinking that if you are disabled and work, you don't need free buses?
it doesn't cost more to get the bus for a disabled person.
I think its important to keep the amount of people using public transport during rush hour down.

But, chickenwing, people with disabilities have no other option to travel to work other than public transport. They can't drive, cycle or walk. True, they can get a taxi if they can afford it, but if you want people with disabilities to become less reliant on the state, they must have the means to get to work.

If you have a job, you can pay your own fare with your wages, the same as everyone else who uses the bus.

And Ellen, lots and lots of people with disabilities have the ability to drive, thanks. Please don't assume everyone is the same. Perhaps you forgot the SOME people with disabilities bit....

Yes, I did forget the 'some,' sorry. My experience isn't with physical disabilities.

But the point stands, if public transport is your only option to get to work, you can't save money by walking or cycling. That's the difference, and society should be trying to help those more vulnerable to become more independent, IMO.

Thats also true for a lot of people who don't get free bus passes though, those with lesser disabilities, inaccessability issues, etc.
The rules aren't there to be mean, they'll be for sound logistical reasons. There aren't infinite buses available and they can't allow everyone to use free passes at rush hour, it will be because its not feasible or sustainable.

In my area the rule is there just to be mean (well I expect they'd call it economics). Up until April people with disabilities could use the bus before 9.30am. Now they can't and that's effectively a £15 a week minimum fall in income overnight, with, as others have said, little option to offset that by walking or cycling.

I may see if I can find out exactly how much it was costing them to fund and see if it has any comparison on the amount they're currently spending to move the civic offices.

I have sympathy with others who are asking if somebody is working, why should they have a free pass?

I feel very strongly that some restrictions have to be in place to protect the rush hour or we will never, ever get to work.

I live in an area that is popular for retirement and holidays. Our buses are very busy with older people in the day and, in the summer season, extremely so. It costs our council a fortune providing free transport for people from out of our area.

I don't understand how this rule 'protects the rush hour'. If you're disabled and working then you'll have to be on the bus anyway, free or otherwise. If you have to be at an appointment then the same applies. Or are we talking about the hoards of pensioners that storm the bus at 8am?

There could quite easily be differentiation between disabled holders and elderly holders; this was confirmed by my local council when they were consulting on the change.

With regard to working and paying, I believe it's in consideration of the fact that people with disabilities often have extra living costs, more difficulty in obtaining work, are often lower paid and have less opportunity to offset travel costs by finding other means of transport.

If you work then yes YABU.

It costs me in excess of £70 a week in deisel to get to work, last month my expenses bill for meetings was £650.

Why should you not have to pay £2 when the rest of us, disabled or not, have to deal count on our wages?

Do any of you consider the extra expenditure many disabled people have and how they might meet the costs? Disabled people have a disproportionate risk of being poor. The last report I read said something like 30% of households where there was a disabled person were considered poor. If you are working and disabled you are more likely to be poor in comparison to an equivalent non disabled person. And that includes people on DLA, (which there are getting less of by the day). There are still unmet costs. Examples

Care costs (physical assistance/interpreter for the deaf for example)
Extra heating bills
Transport costs to appointments
Loss of earnings for appointments/hospital stays
Prescription charges
Increased life insurance costs (if you can get it at all)