To think children should be free on buses the same as OAPs

[P3onyPenny]

Our bus company used to charge £7 for a 10 mile adult ticket and £1 each for children which wasn't too bad. The £1 child ticket has now been scrapped and I've just paid £18 for me and 3 dc to travel 10 miles. I think that is extortionate. The Park and Ride is always filled by office workers and city parking is extortionate. I don't always have access to a car. During the holidays the bus was always full with a variety of ages and several children. Now it only appears to be OAPs on it. We were literally the only non OAPs travelling,I presume due to the cost. We live in a fairly rural area,our library is rarely open( unlike the city one) and we don't have the city shops or many amenities such as cinema,sports centre,big shops etc.

We'll just organise ourselves so I can drive into town,pay the extortionate parking and add to the congestion. Other families not so fortunate won't be able to do this and to be honest environmentally I don't think it should be encouraged anyway.

My parents have a brand new car and are far better off than us. It just seems daft that they get bus transport free and kids who don't have any income don't.

AIBU to think oap bus passes should be means tested with the money saved funding a child bus pass scheme? At the very least just for the holidays or even £1 a ticket scheme like Stagecoach ran before.

I know River. I guess they thought the full adult helped to fund the loss from £1tickets.

Getting rid of some OAP passes means there will be more people on the road who shouldn't be driving.

Yes, move to London, that’s, er, sensible

YANBU op.

The bus companies do make money if they are filled with OAPs. Bus passes are not 'free', tax payers pay for them.

£10 for 1 adult and 3 kids I could just about afford a couple of times a week but £18, they're having a laugh. Bus driver tried really hard to get the price down. Wish bus companies could be named and shamed.

Children's tickets are two-thirds of an adult fare where I am (free for under 5s). It adds up going anywhere with the kids now they're older though. They do family tickets too which does save a bit but it's still pricey. I looked into taking DC to our nearest big city to go see a movie this weekend. Cinema tickets would have been £18 for a family ticket. Travel there and back would have more than double that.

Is this not just a down side of choosing to live rurally? If you live in town property costs more, the congestion is worse, parking is a nightmare, but you don't pay a lot for buses as you walk more and facilities are more easily accessible. You live rurally you get more space, cheaper property (in most areas) , more freedom for DCs, often better, smaller schools, village community etc but less accessibility to facilities and amenities. Surely you can't have it all ways 🤷

Moved from London to semi rural area years ago. Expected public transport to not be good. Not only is it poor but very expensive for young people. Kids outside of London get a bad deal in this particular area. (Don’t get me started on the quality of school buildings outside the capital).

But Sock most will have cars anyway. Many just use the bus to save on exorbinate parking fees,not because they shouldn't be driving. Our parents are in their 70s and 80s,driving far better than many half their age in far posher cars.They don't need their pass,we do. I get some OAPs do so means test and let all kids go free or £1 a ticket at least in the hols.

Our local primary is enormous,feeds loads of villages and bigger than many of the city schools. Property is very expensive too,much more than much of the city. There are hot spots in both.

I'm not sure much money would be saved by means testing OAPs' bus passes. In terms of administration costs, issuing a pass probably costs less than gathering and assessing evidence to check eligibility then contacting the applicant with the outcome. In terms of the actual cost of pensioners using the buses, those who use them most would probably still get a pass, and many of those who would no longer receive passes probably hardly ever use them in any case!

But they means test child benefit and save money.

Where we are you can get half price childrens tickets, or various passes, but they are disproportionately expensive for shorter journeys. Plus as we are semi rural, there are a few areas like mine where even a return journey of 4 miles would need passes/ fares for two different bus companies with limited services. And not as though there are many services/ amenities within walking distance. And even for very active dc with no choice, there aren't always safe walking routes.

But naturally just because the Capitol have something it doesn't mean the lowly districts should be entitled to the same.

Would you be in favour of means testing a child's free bus pass?

No because children have zero income and are solely reliant on their parent/parents who are also feeding,clothing etc. OAPs are only responsible for themselves and have an income to support themselves.The only universal benefit that children received is now means tested.

Agree with you completely OP. We have tried to use the car less, but I can't afford for us to all get the bus into town a couple of times a week, much cheaper to park even with parking fees. The buses, on the occasions I have got one (only go if by myself) are full of old people or disabled passes- this is great for them, but not great in encouraging less car use amongst the rest of the population.

Same with train fares, it is cheaper by far to all drive 250 miles than take a train.

fash we don't all live in picturesque villages. Lots of semi rural areas are like mine. Traditional industries and employment destroyed, mainly zero hours nmw. Secondary and beyond pretty crap unless you live in the more upmarket areas. Social housing makes up the majority of my nearest area.

For me, and those in similar situations the cheaper housing, whilst still having cars to access professions needed in any towns, it is a fair swop for a city with better services. For the majority it's a pretty shit deal and not one they had a choice about.

And lets not forget that outside London, the rest of the uk isn't rural. The other cities don't get free travel either.

Agreed. The bus prices are so phenomenal now, it’s often cheaper to park. I pay just over £8 for a family day rider to cover my DC and I into the city centre. Parking in the main shopping centre is £5 for the day.

Have just emailed the company and actually think for the first time ever I'm going to contact my MP.

Who else should I contact?Feel really strongly abou it.

The tariffs are all a bit mad! Where I live in the Midlands, you could (back before i could drive so a good few years) buy a weekly travel ticket for £10. Kids under 4 free after that same price as adults. Teenagers 13-18 got the same ticket for £5 so on occasion my 5 year old who had bought a full priced adult ticket would be sat on my knee to make room for someone 3 times his age and paying half as much! Wasn't a huge inconvenience but just bat shit crazy?!

Completely agree op. Bus fares are ridiculous. Me and DS either walk (6mile round trip) or bike to our local Park and Ride, £3.10 return as it's aimed at the tourists and the tourists MUST be looked after I do understand as it's what keeps the job market healthy and provides our wages. Still stings a bit that we can't access the city we live in or afford most of the entertainment it provides and me and and DH are both working so god knows how others go swimming or to the library etc.

it’s cost us a fortune in school bus fares over the years. I think at the very least school transport should be free

Where I live you can get a family ticket for 5 people (max 2 adults) for £10 on weekdays but during all school holidays, all weekends and bank holidays the ticket is reduced to £5 after 9:30am. That allows workers to use the bus first thing and get to work without loads of kids and parents being on it because the bus services are always packed before 9am and you end up with people standing.

Do you realise how expensive and difficult it would be to means test pensioners passes, I have seen this argument on so many discussions boards, people always say only give passes to pensioners on pension credit until you look at the figures, a single pensioner can get their income topped up to £163 a week on PC, but a single pensioner who gets their pension under the new rules gets £164.34 a week if they have paid in for 35 years so someone who hasn't paid in for as long gets a free pass but someone else who has paid in for longer and only gets £1.34 extra a week has to pay for their bus fare, that's unfair and unworkable and I would certainly not vote for any government to tried to do that even though I am not a pensioner. And what do you means test on, its very clear that bus companies all charge different tariffs, my sister has moved from Bournemouth to the IOW, in Bournemouth she paid £64 for a 30 day pass now she has to pay £99 and its the SAME BUS COMPANY the go ahead group, so if PC is not used just income all means testing would have to be done at a local level to reflect local bus fares that would probably cost the local council more than the passes themselves.

And what about disabled pensioners, disabled working age people can apply for a free pass if they get DLA/PIP,( which is not means tested) a pensioner disabled by old age cannot claim these benefits unless they claimed them before they reached pension age, the only extra money they can claim for disability is attendance allowance, but that's for personal care only it has no mobility component, so a disabled pensioner would have to be medically assessed to qualify for a disabled pass and who would do that? the same people who currently medically assess working age people, they cant cope with the amount of cases they have now can they? and the stories of the way they treat disabled claimants is truly shocking, what would happen if they had to assess a few million pensioner claimants not for any extra cash but just for a bus pass, I can imagine my neighbour bent double who walks with a stick, almost blind and very deaf being told by some official at atos or who ever has the contract that she can walk up 3 hills to her local shop and come back with two bags of shopping so no she is being denied a pass, if we are filled with anger (and we should be) about the way disabled people are treated, then we cant justify putting vulnerable pensioners through the same process we just cant.