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

[mattsmith]

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.

oh and not all pensioners paid a stamp

my auntie NEVER worked a day in her life and was on benefit all her life

so not all pensioners paid in but get all the associated "benefits" of being a pensioner

minority granted

The question is wrong. Pensioners and anybody else can get on a bus any time they like.

Usage patterns mean that public transport is very heavily loaded at certain times of day, and almost empty at others, so there are various schemes to get benefit from using public transport at times when it would otherwise be almost empty. The old person's pass is one of them.

The free bus pass should have been one of the first things to go when cuts started.

Non pensioners are discriminated against in that they have to pay for the bus. YABVU

YABU.

What you should be really annoyed about is the fact it costs so much to catch a crappy bus in the first place!

Bring down the bus prices for those who have no option but to catch it for work, school etc and then perhaps bus passes could be used at any time.

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

Well said!

It really narks me when people claim that just because someone's paid NI/tax they've somehow earned the right to tons of free stuff irrespective of whether they can afford it. Non-means-tested benefits such as free bus passes, TV licences, Winter Fuel Allowance etc. infuriate me. The money could be better targeted to those genuinely in need, not people who feel that they've somehow 'paid for' all these things through their tax/NI when working (they haven't - not even close unless, as a previous poster says, they were masssively high earners).

Discriminated against means treated less favourably. Pensioners are in fact being treated more favourably than the rest of us by getting free bus travel most of the time.

In fact, as they only get this purely due to their age, perhaps everyone else should be arguing that it is age discrimination....

It's practically the last thing left for the people who were told they would be cared for. Filthy hospitals, selling up to get care, wanton neglect and hated by everyone else for being old. I never understand why MNers feel that they have less right than the mother of a child (a choice unlike ageing) when they endlessly bitch about them using a blue badge, sitting on priority seats etc. give me a pensioner over someone else's toddler any day.

Well, if they need to get to work, they can pay their bus fare like everyone else who needs to catch the bus before 10am, then.

My parents have bus passes, they sometimes have to catch an early bus, but the bus company gives them a special rate of £1 which I think is very reasonable.

I support having bus passes, but I don't see why having them kick in at 10 am is a terrible, terrible injustice.

I read somewhere about one city (in eastern Europe somewhere?) where the local authority made buses free for everyone. They automatically saved some costs (of money collection, ticket infrastructure, etc) and decreased the city's traffic problems at a stroke.

We could do with that here - except those people who sit in their huge cars with one teeny child in the passenger seat would probably then sneer at public transport even more.

9.30 everywhere i know.
I don't think its discrimination. Its not like they're not allowed to get on the bus!

Well if theydont like it then pay the full fare like everyone else. Id alsobe very interested to see how many pensioners work if you can link to some stats.

They can get the bus, just pay for it.

The vast majority of them will have got more than they paid in. That's only taking those who actually worked and paid into account.

Don't be silly, how is this discrimination?

Why is this bothering you?

I doesn't bother pensioners. My Dad is a pensioner and his free bus travel starts at 9.30. Does this bother him? No it doesn't.
He goes on the bus all over the place to potter about and go look at churches (his lifelong hobby). He doesn't need to take up a seat during the rush hour when buses are already full and busy people are trying to get to work.
He only goes on the bus because its free and he has nothing better to do. He likes getting on the bus after rush hour with other pensioners its like a little club to them!

'Discriminated' is a word that seems to be trotted out at the drop of a hat these days.

ahh this brings back memories of staying with my grandma - lazy early mornings as we couldn't get the bus to town too early :)

If they are working full time, they can pay for the bus like everyone else. If not, they can use their free travel during off peak times. Perfectly sensible system.

First they shouldn't be means tested - someone who has worked their whole life, lived frugally to support themselves in their old age doesn't get one - whereas someone who hasn't worked/squandered their earnings does? - that doesn't sound fair to me!
I support them (and their later start time to avoid the rush hour)
Some more infirm pensioners might struggle to walk even a stop to the local shops...whereas someone younger could easily walk - and getting out and about is good for them - mentally and physically and socially, keeping them independent for longer and hopefully reducing their long term care bill. With bus fares being as expensive as they are they are more likely to just go once a week etc...
Secondly it encourages older drivers out of their cars - is more likely to encourage them to drive less and stop driving sooner - which again I think is a good thing

They have paid stamp their whole life!

Gosh to people still say that? How quaint! I can actually remember my Mum buying a physical stamp from the Post Office for my Dad because he was self-employed and this was how he had to make his NI contributions.

On a slight side-track - a friend of my Dad was a bus driver and he said they all called the pensioners "Twirlies" because of their habit of approaching the bus driver while it was still in the rush hour and saying "Are we too early?" (Say it quickly)

Your NI contributions don't sit in a pot with your name on it, waiting to be accessed when you hit pension age.

This, with bells on

FYI my dad is a pensioner and loathes the current free bus pass system - he thinks minimum wage workers should be the ones who receive free travel.

I agree, my dad was high rate tax payer most of his life. Now getting to the point of having no assets left to sell to continue his care. Fat miserable lazy bastard in law lives in a free home, nice and warm with carets free and on top of that she is banking over a grand a month in benefits. Don't means test people, those of us who do pay through the nose should get a look in as well as people like my in laws who did very little ever.

I should say did, I don't pay tax any more.