To think free bus passes for the old should be abolished?

[Bumpitybumper]

Statistics show that on average wealth peaks at age 65-74 in the UK, why then do we give these people free bus passes? It makes absolutely no sense at all and is just an unnecessary expense. The idea that 'young' pensioners are a relatively poor group of people is completely incorrect and it only serves to enhance the already massive intergenerational wealth gap between baby boomers and everyone else.

@Bumpitybumper Pardon? My mum is 80, is only entitled to State Pension (£900 per month) and isn't entitled to Pension Credit as she apparently gets too much state pension. Yet has to pay 75% council tax and of course, bills so she's living in poverty!
Yes there may well be wealthy pensioners but I can assure you, there's many, many penniless pensioners who, like my mum, can’t afford to fucking heat their homes! My mum wears her fleece pullover and her gilet coat in the house 24/7 at this time of year as she categorically cannot afford the heating. I'm making her meals to take round just to save her money.

I didn't mean literally forced... But forced to choose between house and spare cash, yes they would.

Oh, go and do one. It's a measure of someone's character how they view and treat the elderly. You're raging because of personal circumstances, no doubt, and you want to take it out on the old. Shame on you.

They don't in London. They get free bus travel till 16, free tube till 11, and I think reduced prices till ?18 or maybe free if their school/college is over a certain distance.

It used to drive me insane when I was in London. The buses were mobile youth clubs full of kids only going a couple of stops!

Sell your house to get a fucking bus pass.

Couldnt make it up😂😂😂😂😂

Would the most 'worthy' not be those who have paid taxes for 30+ years to aid the subsidisation of public transport travel for other 'worthy' groups of people?

I don’t want elderly drivers with slow reaction times on the road. Give them a bus pass!
we will all be old one day.

@Viviennemary More like no cars for folk that aren't employed.

Excuse you?!

W

It should me means tested and it certainly shouldn’t start at 60 like the London one!

I don’t think elderly people being less safe to drive should really be a reason. We shouldn’t have to pay people in order to stop dangerous driving.
Travel for under 16s should be free country wide before it’s free for everyone over 65.

@Grammarnut Not only does running regular, reliable public transport keep fares low for everyone (and reduces the number of cars on the road) but it has other benefits to society such as less congestion - reducing the costs of building and maintaining roads, car parks, and improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists; or less pollution - not just exhaust fumes, but also brake dust and tyre rubber dust.

There is also the benefit to society of keeping areas of towns, and particularly rural towns, accessible and viable. I live in a rural village that has a reliable, hourly bus service to the nearest large town. There are additional buses in the morning, afternoon and evening for workers and school pupils. This means that the village is a viable place in which to live. Residents can easily get to and from the "big town" for shopping, work, school and for hospital appointments and other services only available in the larger town, so there is not a migration to the town - in fact, there is migration to the village. Uutsiders can alsoeasily get to the village, so there are employers that have moved here because land and rent is cheaper than in the town but their staff can still easily commute to work. The primary school is viable as there is a good base level of families and children from the surrounding area can just as easily travel to the village school as to the town school. Needless to say, this village is not in the UK.

Money tied up in a house is not spare cash though, especially if you are still living in it.

That's why you liquidate it obviously. Sell it, downsize, move to a cheaper area. It's what I would do were I so heard up I couldn't afford the bus fare...

And the disabled

Not just the elderly you don't think should have free bus pass then.

Maybe MNHQ will pay attention to this

And if you are already living in a one bed flat in a shit area?
Plus, selling and moving come with their own costs too.

But they get a bus pass. They don’t need to afford the bus fare.

And why should they go and live in a shitty area?

They wont. They say that the posts should be left up to be challenged.... invariably by the very disabled that the posts are on about.

its the daily anti-Boomer thread. How much do you think it would cost to means test every single pensioner and decide who can and can’t have a bus pass as opposed to just giving a piece of plastic to them all that the wealthy won’t even use?

I don’t have a problem with free bus passes for the elderly because frankly, I’d rather they weren’t behind the wheels of their own cars. However, in principle I completely agree with you and think that every other age-unrelated benefit should be means tested

Another old people bashing thread. Great.

I got my bus pass at 66, when I got my pension. So not at 60.

I use it on average twice a month to go into my local city. If it wasn’t free, I’d take my car. So another car on the road, increasing congestion. I’m not the only one doing this.

Every bus I am on after 9am is probably half full of pensioners, thus making that route viable. Take us out of the equation and see how many bus routes collapse or are drastically reduced .

That’s without all the posts on here about elderly parents who should give up driving because they aren’t safe. How on earth could we incentivise that? Maybe a free option …?

I guess it’s hard to see the bigger social picture when you’re so angry at one sector of society.

Age related, even!

This is a brilliant point.

I also think means testing is often more expensive than the money saved in various areas. Also people fall through the gaps on mean testing and vulnerable people who don't have full access to the house hold income go without.

I didn't say they should have to. But they could, should they be in the position of not having £2 spare. I'm not sure what is so offensive about the idea of spending ones own money, but anyway.

If someone has not got £2 spare for bus fare, they wont have the couple of grand it costs to sell up and move to somewhere else.

We need more free public transport for more people, likely montpelier, tallin and Luxembourg