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.

That sounds spot on Must,what a good idea.

Old there are anomalies with the CB means testing e.g. 2x£40k household income keeping it.Families have been told to suck it up. CB means testing hasn't proved expensive otherwise they would surely not do it. Why can't OAPs with additional income to state pension just do the similar self assessment thing. Failing that just leave it as a universal benefit but role out free bus passes for children or a highly subsidised scheme and find the money from elsewhere. Failing that ring fence some money from local councils so they are forced to provide free transport like London does.

You could just do it on car ownership. So if you own a car with current insurance and full license you don't get a bus pass. It's easy enough to check.

Another difference between London and everywhere else is that a London "bus ticket" is a ticket for buses.

Start moving out, and a "bus ticket" is actually a ticket for some buses. Bad luck if your journey involves 2 operators.

CB means testing hasn't proved expensive otherwise they would surely not do it

A lot of initiatives bought in weren't intended to save money, but to teach people not to be poor. The Bedroom Tax being an example. It's cost money, not saved it.

This is one example why people need to get active in local politics.

It's your council who decides about funding the discretionary travel passes. If you want this spending prioritised, then you need to be lobbying the council to do that. Ideas for a countervailing de-prioritisation would also be welcome (no council is awash with cash), and wrangling over costs with the bus companies is quite a major negotiation. So it requires time, effort and the will to carry through the policy. But some areas have achieved it. It can be done, but it will only be done if the local electorate demands it.

kids should be free.

i pay £50 a month for my child to go to school and back (about 10 bus stops) and I'm on a low income.

I haven't been on a bus for many years, however, I do see the prices for some tickets on the side of buses. I think bus fares in general are extortionate and services where I live are generally hopeless!

I loved in a village, about 8 miles from town as a teenager so used to get the bus to college. Going was ok if I caught the 7.30am (the 8.05am would make me late ), coming home was a whole other matter! We had 1 bus per hour so I had to catch the 4.45pm from town, except it never turned up on time - usually around 5.30pm! It was often 6.30pm by the time I got home having finished college at 4.15pm!

Then they say people should use the bus more - if they were reasonably priced, regular and turned up on time, people might!

In short, YANBU OP

What dep of my local council should I contact?

Totally agree OP, I stopped using the bus once mine were over 5. Prices similar to what you are quoting, 3 kids here too. The poster who said they had a £5 family ticket, that sounds great.

Here it’s even dafter because taxis are plentiful and not expensive.

So you can pay £5.90 return on the bus the shops and £3.75 return for an over 3... or you can spend an extra £2 and spend £5 each way in a taxi. And the taxi doesn’t involve the guessing game of ‘when will the bus actually come’

By not expensive I mean in comparison to the bus btw. £10 return to the doctors or whatever is expensive for many (would have been too expensive for me when I was a lone parent).

that's madness Ex

OAPs can vote, kids can't. So politicians are much keener on offering free bus travel to elderly people than the young. I think they should means test bus passes for OAPs now many retired people have more disposable income than those of working age - but taking something off someone always prompts bad headlines (death tax, dementia tax...) so the politicians will steer clear.
I think driving a car should be much, much more expensive and buses should be much, much cheaper for everyone, with extra initiatives for cycling and walking but it's probably not going to happen any time soon!

Why should they be free? Why?

Surely it's not up to the bus company or government to subsidise your children?

p3ony it is! And the local authority are considering restricting the number of taxi licenses they dish out to solve the problem...

But my dc have no salary or choice where they live.

Do you not think a civilised society should have affordable public transport? We aren't poor but I can't afford or justify what I paid today for a 10 mile journey. As such and going by the lack of non OAPs on said bus we will by no means be alone.

It is really bad for the environment and the health of city dwellers if I just use a dirty cheap second car every time my dc or I want to do that journey.

If we subsidise wealthy OAPs why not children?

There a reason that the bedroom tax - which was designed for the elderly - wasn’t implemented on them. And it’s the same reason bus passes will never be targeted. Older people vote. They can be relied on to go out, wind rain or shine, and vote.

It's so shortsighted though.

New all singing electric cars as a first car let alone a second are out of the realms of many families. An extortionate bus service is bad for city health which we will then pay for via the NHS

Aside from that teens need independence,they need access to city libraries,Sat jobs,sports centres.....

I think you are missing the part where YOU are responsible for your children/teens.

But if op is responsible for her dcs public transport costs, why does the same not apply to London parents?

And I am. I am raising 3 fab mini adults. We both work full time. The money I spent today is insanity. Pretty sure most OAPs loaded as well as the poor couldn't justify it or afford it either. Aside from that I can't always split myself 4 ways between them and me. We can't all live in the cities,many of us work elsewhere.My teens are getting very near to flying the nest. Them being independent working,going to the library,swimmming etc will be beneficial to the population as a whole eventually.

You are also missing the point that even if I was loaded driving them in and out of town whenever we need it is simply not good for the environment and population as a whole.

And surely OAPs( particularly car owners) are responsible for themselves too.

It does. They are just in a fortunate position that they go free. It doesn't mean the responsibility is someone else's.

Yanbu.

I would probably find he argument towards free travel for kids easier to take if the one constant wasn't 'but old people'