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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think kids should go free on buses?

167 replies

3asAbird · 21/12/2013 09:08

I know they do travel free in london if under 16.

here its free until 5

but most of time they never ask me to pay for 7year old.

really depends what bus drivers we get.
fares seem to vary on same route like they made a na error.

everyone moans about first bus and how extortionate they are.
they never on time
bus drivers can be rude and seem to hate kids.

one had go at me for giving him change think there was few coppers with the silver.

ours frequently dont have change and give change tickets which have to eb take to bus station or first shop which means frequenly i never see the money back.

i rarly take the bus with kids as its flipping stressful

but sometimes from local high street as the main road long abut mile if weathers bad its now £1.50 each way so return would cost £3 for 1mile.
day riders £4 each and family day rider £10 but worked out summer sometimes cheaper hubby drive into city centre and park.

anyway last night we did some shopping food up high street. cash machine wasent working so had £1.50 on me, it was dark and raining.

kids asked if we take bus so girls sat down 2younger ones under 5 3kids.

the bus driver dident argue she wanted eldest to pay due to age.

she said was first rules only 2free kids with 1 fullpaying adults.
never heard that rule before, some could say when you chanced it and lost.

so we had to get off shame of everyone on bus looking.
small boy crying in his buggy.
we were only going like 3 stops .

some of you might say aibu you should pay you fare ddger but rules seem to vary on driver and route they shouldent never know what to expect.

i hate taking bus most of time as people can be so horrid.

last time had 2 oaps have go at me over my well behaved kids.
got off stop early.

we live distance from school bus that bus route so unreliable and would work out so expensive we walk the 1.2 miles.

myself and kids quite used to walking now so often walk what most people say long distances not helped by some areas even close by ones being 2buses.

often theres not enough room many buggies.

but i have been thinking last few months/

hear people say what strain bus fees are to senior schools £60 a month here yet educations pretty much compulsary unless you home ed and you get whichever school council allocate you.

even if within 2miles can be long walk for little reception child.

i wonder what happens with unemployed and job centre?
as nearest job centres 6miles £6 return or 4miles,2buses £4.

my 2 wealthy car driving neighbours with their free bus passes are often going on nice shopping trips or days out with theres.

which makes me think.

why oaps get free travel but not kids?

im lucky every things walkable and rarly rely on bus but for those who do must be huge cost.

so every time i walk up long rd in wet/snow and see bus whizz past with mostly oaps i think god the uks so fair not!

OP posts:
OttilieKnackered · 21/12/2013 09:48

So should anyone pay? Not the old, not the young, not the unemployed, not those with disabilities. You know that represents the majority of bus users, right?

LucyLasticKnickers · 21/12/2013 09:48

they need to change child fares to up to 17 as they are having to stay in education until 17.
but they wont.
student tickets here aer slightly cheaper, if you buy a weekly. but the school bus says they are not really allowed . though dd has got away with it. so far.

Shente · 21/12/2013 09:49

I would just like there to be a bus in my village, it's a two mile walk to nearest bus stop so I look forward to driving my dd everywhere when she's old enough to go out alone! Would happily pay for a bus to take her

LucyLasticKnickers · 21/12/2013 09:49

unemployed pay here.
it is a very good thing for OAPs, gets them out and they spend money on coffee if nothing else.

children have their parents to pay for them. OAPs have no one

OttilieKnackered · 21/12/2013 09:50

By the way, I absolutely support free bus travel for those with disabilities and poor pensioners. Not for anyone who can walk and has the means to pay.

LucyLasticKnickers · 21/12/2013 09:54

and plenty of OAPS are unable to drive - having failed their physical. it is often safer if they on teh buses, even if they have passed their medical test.

Fakebook · 21/12/2013 09:54

What? I'm not in London and children go free on buses until they're 12 I think. I thought it was the same everywhere.

scaevola · 21/12/2013 09:56

Wasn't it Sheffield where the counil used to have a flat rate of something like 2p for everyone for every journey?

This was back in the 1970s or 1980s. Good socialist policy, but IIRC, massively expensive in terms of rates subsidy.

More "free" travel will almost certainly resulting fare increases for paying passengers, as I doubt there is any spare money to fund expansion.

prettypleasewithsugarontop · 21/12/2013 09:56

It costs us £17pw for myself and 2 dds (5 & 9) to get home from school (we get lift in thankfully) there is a woman who gets on at same bus stop who has 4 children all in school and she doesn't pay for any of them (she just asks for a single to X) Hmm

I do like that I pay, so I can say sorry no dd isn't sitting on my lap, i have paid for her seat.

Joysmum · 21/12/2013 10:00

If the government are serious about promoting public transport to limit the car, they need to at least make it cheaper than the car is. It would also need to be pleasant and regular routes.

It's cheaper for our family of 3 to take the car than it is to take public transport, plus it's more convenient and a nicer experience. Why would I want to take public transport snywhere unless I had to?

candycoatedwaterdrops · 21/12/2013 10:00

The reason why all pensioners get the bus pass is because it would actually cost the tax payer more to means test them.

Don't even get me started on there not being enough room for buggies!

candycoatedwaterdrops · 21/12/2013 10:01

prettyplease You haven't paid for her seat actually. You have paid to be on the bus, not for a seat.

IneedAsockamnesty · 21/12/2013 10:02

lizs

Out of work Benefits do not qualify people for free bus passes.

insancerre · 21/12/2013 10:03

filimou Grin

Only use BT when I have to, and as I don't drive, it's more than I would like.
I much prefer coastal coaches little bus, much friendlier

BT have just introduced a young persons weekly ticket, which DD tried to buy to get to college.
However, the driver wouldn't accept that she was only 17 and kicked her off as she didn't have enough to pay full fare. She couldn't pay a single fare as she then wouldn't have had enought o get to college the rest of the week.
She doesn't have ID yet- only her college pass, but he wouldn't accept that

punny · 21/12/2013 10:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BopToTheTop · 21/12/2013 10:08

Well the way I see it here is that you have 2 options-

  1. use a car for journeys so you don't have to rely of a bus
  2. carry money and be prepared to pay for a service that is being provided

Why should you get something for nothing?

BringBackBod · 21/12/2013 10:09

Since free travel for the over 60s came in, our bus provider has removed a lot of subsidies for children, such as day rider tickets, travel to school etc.
It's hard not to feel slightly resentful.
I would hate to see it free oap bus travel abolished completely, as people would suffer, but would welcome an announcement that it was to be means tested.

LucyLasticKnickers · 21/12/2013 10:11

i thought there was talk about means testing OAPs fare.
they have raised it here at least. Currently it is over 62s. no doubt it will go up.
unlike the raising of childrens fare for 17 year olds. bug bear of mine.

BringBackBod · 21/12/2013 10:12

candy. Maybe making it so that those receiving pension credit qualify would be the easiest way.

IneedAsockamnesty · 21/12/2013 10:14

Fake book,

What area are you in? Free till 12 I've never heard of that,ours are free until 8 and I thought that was better than most areas. That's very good.

Child fares or free children can't use bus without paying adult fare before 9am or after 5pm

DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn · 21/12/2013 10:15

Children never had free bus travel when I was a child. Whilst it's nice that my DC do have free travel, I don't think it is necessary.

NoComet · 21/12/2013 10:20

OAPs should get bus passes because, many of them need to gradually get used to life without driving. Mosts eye sight and health won't let them forever.

The one that gets my goat is paying for 16-18 school/collage buses!

DD1 has to stay in school, this is a rural area many DCs have long and expensive journeys.Nnot all schools have sixth forms, the colleges are 10-20 miles for many DCs.

Since it's the town colleges that provide the best vocational courses it's unfortunately the DCs who are liable to come from families least able to pay who have some of the longest journeys.

MarlenaGru · 21/12/2013 10:21

I am very pleased my dd gets free travel. My dh and I pay well over £200 a month between us for travel. Paying for dd on various journeys too would be very frustrating. You see in London you can never get anywhere in a car without sitting in traffic for a half hour. Even to get to sainsburys about 3km away. Also people adding more cars to that rather than using buses would cause for more problems for the councils than subsidising bus passes so I can see why they do!

LIZS · 21/12/2013 10:21

JSA claimants do get a pass here - JC covers a wide area, some of which is rural.

littleducks · 21/12/2013 10:33

We are in London and so my kids go free, it's great when I take them out (they are primary school age) not so great when I need to get to work and can't get on bus as it is full of teenagers going one stop to school because of a light drizzle. Not sure it helps with child obesity issues either.

The system works well here with bus directly linked up to police (which they pay for). Kids who mess about get their free oysters revoked. In a rural area, with a private companies who wouldn't want to pay for police support I think it would be more difficult to implement.

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