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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed that pensioners are discriminated against getting on the bus before 10

105 replies

mattsmith · 16/05/2014 10:08

This bus pass really annoys me that it only works after 10am, lots of pensioners still work full time and need the bus to get to work.

OP posts:
SpringBreaker · 16/05/2014 10:10

They can get on the bus before 10, they just have to pay the full fare. Why is that a problem?

Hereward1332 · 16/05/2014 10:10

Presumably this is some sort of reverse AIBU.

If they work full time, why do they need free bus travel?

NoArmaniNoPunani · 16/05/2014 10:11

If they work full time why can't they pay?

Blu · 16/05/2014 10:11

Did you join MN to make this point?

MsVestibule · 16/05/2014 10:11

You joined MN just to post a goady question Grin. Are you really that bored?

Very poor try, 1/10.

Original poster
mattsmith · 16/05/2014 10:11

They have paid stamp their whole life!

OP posts:
SaucyJack · 16/05/2014 10:11

Um, YABU. They are not banned from the bus before 10am; they just have to pay like everybody else. This is categorically NOT discrimination.

TheSkiingGardener · 16/05/2014 10:12

If they work, they can pay. A bus pass is also a bonus, be bloody grateful for what you DO get.

Floralnomad · 16/05/2014 10:13

I'm amazed that they still get a free bus pass at all ,in these times of austerity all these things should be means tested .

Treeceratops · 16/05/2014 10:13

If you work full time, you have an income so you can afford to pay for the bus, surely? Even if you earn minimum wage. Lots of people have to do that. So YABU.

LouSend · 16/05/2014 10:23

YABVU.

I wish I had a bus pass. I live in the arse end of nowhere and can't afford a car. There is one bus (count them -one) out of this village. It will take me to another village 3 miles away. It will cost me 4.90 return for the privilege. From there I can get into a town that has actual shops. That will cost in excess of 6 return.

Bloody expensive if all I want to do is get a prescription, or return a library book. I genuinely cannot afford to do this most weeks. And I know of plenty of pensioners who can.

So if someone offered me a bus pass which enabled me to travel for free, on the condition that if I wanted to travel before 10am I paid for it, I'd be extremely grateful. I wouldn't be moaning about it on the internet.

MrsSteptoe · 16/05/2014 10:25

Gotta agree with the YABUs here... the free bus pass, which assumes that the pensioner in question is necessarily on a limited income, comes with the condition that travel is restricted to 10am and later. That's the deal.

elliejjtiny · 16/05/2014 10:27

YABU. My son can't use his bus pass (he's disabled) to get to school either.

CrapBag · 16/05/2014 10:28

"They have paid stamp their whole life!"

Oh dear, bored are we?

If they are still paying stamp, in that they need to get to work before 10, then they can pay the bus fare.

If they are retired then people need to get to work early and the buses can't be full of old people taking up the seats at the expense of people who have to be somewhere at a certain time.

gordyslovesheep · 16/05/2014 10:28

they could cycle to work or walk - or pay the fare

the bus pass has restrictions - if they are working they can probably manage the fare

Viviennemary · 16/05/2014 10:30

Of course they can get on the bus at any time they wish. But they will have to pay like everyone else.

Gileswithachainsaw · 16/05/2014 10:30

It's 9:00 round here. Surrounding areas 9:30

The whole point is so they don't fill the buses when people are trying to get to work/school. just fill the one on the way back instead

They are still free to get bus anytime they want.

Blu · 16/05/2014 10:30

Of course pensioners cannot and must not be allowed to use passes before 10am. The deluge of threads about pensioners taking up room in the buggy / wheelchair space with their trollies would be unbearable!

You wouldn't have been thinking of starting a thread like that, would you, OP?

meditrina · 16/05/2014 10:34

NI was set up to cover the state pension and certain other benefits.

It is wholly unrelated to concessionary travel.

vitaprod · 16/05/2014 10:37

It's 9.30 here. And applies to disabled people too (free off peak travel).

Agree that if working full time they can/should probably pay if wanting to travel before 9.30

RiverTam · 16/05/2014 10:39

if they are working then why do they need a free bus pass (and plenty of pensioners, working or not, don't need it, but that's a whole other thread). They can pay, like anyone else going to work in the rush hour.

Also, how do you know they have been paying 'stamp' there whole lives? And so what - they will have benefitted from a whole swathe of things that current workers will not - and it's those workers who are paying for pensioners' benefits Your NI contributions don't sit in a pot with your name on it, waiting to be accessed when you hit pension age.

HecatePropylaea · 16/05/2014 10:43

"they have paid stamp their whole life*"

yeah? and?

They got a full education, health care, a pension... Unless they were MASSIVE earners, odds are they gained more than they paid.

and they get free off peak travel and if they want to travel outside of that, they pay the fare.

what's the problem?

(* assuming they did. You can't tell which pensioners worked their whole life, which were unemployed, which were sahp, which were in and out of work... all you can know is they are a person of pensionable age who is benefiting from free off peak travel.)

It's just really not a big deal.

WooWooOwl · 16/05/2014 10:52

It's not discrimination, it's a restriction on when free travel is available. Big difference.

theywillgrowup · 16/05/2014 10:55

dear god

well all in all they have done pretty well out of all the cuts eg bedroom tax and more so no i dont feel their being treated unfairly

yabu

Trinovantes · 16/05/2014 10:57

Like everyone else has said: if they are working full time, they can pay the bus fare like everyone else.