Just don’t get this - waiting for the bus

[Auburngal]

My dad who is in his 70s had a hospital appointment this morning at 9:50am. So he had to pay for the outward journey as got bus about 8:55am. He goes on bus to that hospital as parking is a nightmare.

When he got to the bus stop 7-10 mins earlier, there were 3 elderly people - none of them were together. Bus pulled up and dad offered the 3 to board before him. “We are waiting for the first bus after 9:30am” - that’s when travel is free for pensioners. Dad gets his return trip free as it’s always after 9:30am when he leaves hospital.

Why on earth are people standing outside waiting for a bus at least 45 minutes before they can get free travel? The bus stop is in a wind tunnel. This happens every time my dad goes to hospital for that department as his appts are more/less same time.

Because the first bus that's free for pensioners is always packed with pensioners, so they want to be early to be at the front of the queue (and secure a seat).

Plus, you need less sleep when you are older and this often means older people are up much earlier than people of working age, so they might be glad to get out in the fresh air.

I think it comes from "too early"!

You tend to sleep less as you age and sometimes need a nap by the afternoon.

Pensioners get free travel, but not until after morning rush hour is over (so they don't crowd out commuters who have no choice about their travel time). So they're "twirly" aka "too early" for their free travel.

If your dad takes his hosp letter he will get the free travel too

This definitely doesn't happen here anymore (Scotland) - concession pass holders either over 60s or people with health conditions can travel anytime which gives a bit more space at peak times with students and school kids as well as commuters.

It's not a new thing. I'm 58 and remember my Grandad (way before OAPs bus passes) would be at the bus stop at least 30 mins before a bus.
At university I lived in a house with a bus stop outside and to know if the bus was due, we looked out of the window. Queue of elderly people = bus due within next 30-45 minutes. No elderly people= bus not due for at least 45-60 minutes.

The older I get, the earlier I get up. Make the most of daytime. Nobody has been quoted on their deathbed as saying "I should have had that lie in". (I apply the same truth to floor mopping)

If you have always shopped in the morning, how do you know that there are adequate stocks in the afternoon or early evening?

My father used to be outside the post office by 6 o'clock every Monday morning;rain.shine or snowfall.

Drove my mother mad.

The queue pre opening was massive and in the rain and cold. Had they been reading the fictitious daily fail articles that post office staff would steal your pension if you left it there till the afternoon

Because they will get on the bus and ask the driver 'Am I too early luv?' Some drivers let them on and some don't.

I work for London Underground and the same gang of Twirlies turn up almost daily at my station 😆. They like to chat to the shop owners, to staff, and to anyone they happen to know going past. Then, at 9am when their passes kick in, all 10-15 of them go through the gates! 😂

Some of them live alone (they chat to staff as I said) and it's a social activity for them.

my mum - despite my protestations to the contrary - firmly believes that where she lives there is only one bus an hour. I have shown her on the app but she just won't believe me.

And she gets to the bus stop around half an hour early, because she is petrified she is going to miss the bus. And is then surprised when a bus comes after 10 minutes ("ohhhh that's really late") when i said it would. So if she did that before 9 she wouldn't be able to get on.

There are lots of reasons why they might do that - i suspect it's lift related. It gets them out in the fresh air, and they have a chinwag.

Your hatred of the elderly is oozing out of you.

Their travelling and shopping habits are nothing to do with you, so get over it.

They enjoy the chat and sense of community spirit, and it's part of their daily routine. I live in Wales where transport is free all day long for the over-60s, so I miss the twirlies I used to see on my way to work when I lived in Manchester.

Who put you in charge of other people's shopping habits?

I don't know if it is universal, but in my area he would have been able to travel free to a hospital appointment before 0930 if he had the appointment letter

https://www.nexus.org.uk/concessionary-bus-fare

Where I live you can use your free bus pass from 9am. I catch the 9am bus to work, which is full of other people going to work or college etc. But you also get your pensioners piling on, complaining how busy it is/no space...why not wait an hour when the buses will be less busy? I'm sure some have appointments but from the chat a lot just seem to be going shopping etc.

You still can't actually shop until the shop opens?!

The newspaper thing occurs in all ages. If they went to the newsagents - they open at 6:30am. If bought a paper from there, got 3.5 more hours to read or have 3.5 hours later in the day to do other things

God bless em - they are up way to early with nothing else to do and they go and have a good chinwag at the stop and sometimes they get lucky and the driver lets them on early...although less so now Long live the "T'wirlies"

And yet your ageism is strong.

Supermarkets can open for six hours on Sunday provided it's between 10am and 6pm, which means some supermarkets open at 10am, some at 11am, some at 12pm. When people are waiting outside for 30 minutes it's usually just because they got the opening time wrong.

Some shops like M&S also open for a half hour of "browsing" time before the tills can legally open.

When I was on my first mat leave and lonely and bored I used to do my errands as inefficiently as possible just to fill up the day and give me some purpose, and I suspect there's a not dissimilar thing happening with some retired people.

I used to work in a corner shop which opened at 8am. When I arrived at 7.45 there would be a queue of pensioners, and by 7.59 they would be rattling the shutters.

I think sometimes it's hard to sleep a lot as you get older and people want to get up and on with their day. I don't think I'll ever turn up at the bus stop 30 minutes early though!