£3 busfares will ruin me

[Deportationsensation]

Busfare cap to increase to £3. That’s £6 a day for buses. £10 extra a week.

My food budget for 1 person is £10 a week. So that’s my food money gone to pay for buses.

I can’t work more hours. I do what I can in working part time because I have health issues that would not qualify for PIP but affect me every day. Not qualifying for any benefits other than probably food bank use. Which I will now have to do.

AIBU to just start wondering what is the point? Life isn’t supposed to be like this. Some of us are just trying to survive with no enjoyment in life at all.

To be honest if my mother wanted to buy me hair extensions for my birthday and I'd only £10 for a weeks food because working more made me suicidal, I'd ask my mother to spend the money either on:

• food
• therapy

That involves a large outlay. Not always possible for someone with a low income.

I'm hoping it's a cap as in the max amount, not a minimum fare.
It's ridiculous now that one to three stops costs 2 pounds (London is different and much better as you pay less fir even a few buses in one hour) !
People who go further really benefit wjether it's 2 or 3 pounds cap, so I think it's fair to raise the max fare if they lower the minimal level!

Why doesn't your mother feed you instead of buying you hair extensions?

Councils will receive all the money from Right to Buy purchases & be able to use it to build more houses.

Let's not forget that the £2 cap is a very recent thing and was, by the standards of government transport subsidies, extremely generous.

The bus fare cap was extended month to month though, due to run out again in December. You can't really rely on a temporary bus fare cap if you can't afford to get to work. Also the minimum wage is going up by more than £2 a day, plus bus passes etc as others said. Where I live there are flexible bus passes.

I recently had to travel to work by public transport for a few weeks, as I wasn’t able to drive. The journey was a mixture of trains and buses. One bus journey was £2 a time but the other bus was operated by a different company who weren’t participating in the capped prices, so was £7 a trip.

If you want supportive then

1. aibu is not the place for you and

2. when you complain about not having enough money to exist, but also post "Im high maintenance, eyelashes, hair extensions the lot." Then people will take you at your word...

No and Net Zero isn't quite all that it seems either.

Luckily, old Miliband and his band of little green men aren't always able to join up the dots and sometimes a glaring error is made-such as putting up bus fares while telling us that cars are leading to the immediate burning of the planet.

If the planet is in dire need of net zero to the extent that he must have a budget of billions and a green tax must be imposed on energy bills, then why oh why is the price of public transport being put up.

Thank goodness, they can't do joined up thinking or even more would swallow their agenda! Thank goodness for the numb nuts in charge who haven't got the wit to cover their arse and expose the horrid sight from time to time.

I've just been having a convo with my DD who is 11 as I have a debilitating condition causing daily pain since I was a young child that is visible and her classmates often ask for details. My DD couldn't understand why I just get on with life regardless of the pain until I explained sometimes there is no other option, regardless of everything you just have to keep moving forward, one step at a time. Im lucky that i have a partner, my DH works hard and has a good job but we live in an expensive area with DC in school, so moving isn't an option, so when I got to the point the pain was too bad I couldn't do a regular job, I started my own business just to add something to the pot. Is there a hobby or craft you enjoy that could earn you some extra money?
If working extra hours caused suicidal thoughts, have you engaged with Therapy? Most NHS trusts have Talking Therapies you can self refer to. I've done this in the past and it's been very helpful. There is usually a long wait so sooner you refer the better.

@AutumnLeaves24

firstly where in my post did I specifically single out cars? Although to be fair they do make up the vast amount of traffic.

But to answer your points - according to the most recent data available on the Government website, detailing figures of all road accidents in the UK, of the 167,375 accidents in 2020 only 2,213 involved a bus or coach. For accidents involving minibuses, the number was even lower, at 225.

and buses are more efficient use of road space to move more people round so they cause very few delays and take up less space per person.

there isn’t more recent data because of the whole made up war on motorists narrative but there’s estimates from other countries and I can tell you the costs of subsiding motor vehicles hasn’t gone down.

and in terms of space, storing and parking vehicles takes up a huge amount of public space. This country is very motonormative and has failed to invest in travel infrastructure - way behind other countries.

I feel for OP it’s the poorest people that don’t own their own vehicles and rely on public transport and I think it’s unequal that they have to pay more.

I don’t actually use buses much. I tend to get around by bike or train and no longer own a car (but I did for years. I am lucky enough to live somewhere where this is possible and I just hire a car when I do need one. Last three years that’s actually only been six times.

Op, apologies if this has already been suggested earlier in the thread, but can you make an application for Access to Work? They help employers fund adaptations in the work place to help keep people with disabilities and health conditions in the workplace (part time counts!). I've heard of them funding transport to work which is the main reason I thought they might be able to help.

I thought this was a mean move by this government. It will affect poorer people more than better off people. Bad call.

Op I think people are just trying to help. Please go to citizens advice as it sounds like you need some serious financial support if your food budget is so low.

Op most of the replies on here have been helpful and sympathetic. If you can't be bothered being honest about your situation don't come looking for sympathy

Why is your DM not helping you with food etc. instead if she can afford to gift you beauty treatments?

Yes budget is usually is £15 but is now £10 as I do an extra day at work (same hours just spread out) meaning additional busfare

In what world doesn’t an extra day at work mean you have £5 less a week in total?

Please can you read what you’re replying to then because both the posters I replied to were defending OP. Your response to me makes no sense.

Presumably the OP doesn’t work for free though?

There's a lot of judgement OP today on MN.

I'm sorry that bus fares have gone and you're having a hard time. Cost of living is just the pits at the moment. So very bad for all of us.

It's OK to want to look and feel nice. I'm not a buyer of extensions and lashes but I'm also not jugdemental when someone is at the end of their tether.

Can we be a bit kinder? No one is perfect.

Let's stop bitching at the OP, perhaps her DM buys her these things because she's been very down and they hoped together it would help her feel better.

It might have been months ago. How was she to know that the bus fare would go up a £2 per day. When you feel bleak it's hard to always be going without.

OP, would you consider going to the food bank. £10 for a week's food is very small amount. You can't eat well on that at all. Can you make an application to the food bank for staples and then at least you could save some money there?

She said she works the same hours but now spread out over an extra day. So she earns the same but has £4 more outgoings, weekly.

OP's claim is that since just last week (when she reported here that her food budget was £15 pw) she has changed her days but not her hours. So for example if she was working 4x5-hour days before she is now working 5x4-hour days.

I imagine OP thinks without the odd luxury what is even the point in being alive. She alluded to this in her post. I agree to be honest if I wasn't getting any enjoyment out of life I would think what even is the point. I'm not the least bit interested in hair extensions but if it improves how OP feels why not? Buying her food instead once a year isn't going to fix her problems in the long-term.