Feel like a mug paying for buses in Wales

[CaptainArcher]

I live in North Wales and the cost of a daily ticket on the bus is now £7.70 a weekly ticket is £28 now…

It seems like every time i board the bus I'm the only mug actually paying, i tap on and off with my bank card. Everyone else is a pensioner using their free bus pass, or people my age (30s) have a white pass card.. Which means they're on the sick

To make matters worse, i visit across the border sometimes to the Wirral and buses are so much more reasonably.. £2 for a single trip

I can drive bus i gave up cars a few years ago to save money and live a more simpler life

I live in south Wales and before I was 60 I used the bus once a year to go home when my car was being serviced, otherwise I drove everywhere or used trains to go to London. It was cheaper to drive and park than to get the bus.

Since I got my free bus pass at 60 I do use the bus a lot more, I now never drive and park in Cardiff although I still drive to most other places as the bus service isn't great.

I'm one of the people like your grandparents. I have a £500k house, nice car, investments, pension etc. I applied for my bus pass because I'm entitled to it, I've paid taxes all my working life, paid tens of thousands to Cardiff council in council tax, the only benefits I ever took in my life was child benefit.

So quite honestly I can't see that giving me a free bus pass which I use less than once a week is a problem.

I am always astonished about the difference in bus fares round the country .
Here in the Midlands it’s £4.80 for a daysaver and £18 for the week and £64 for the month . And we moan like hell 😂
I can imagine we have far more buses and routes than in Wales. We should be more grateful .

YANBU but there isn’t much you can do about it .

I don't really understand your point. There are poor people in all ages groups and statistics show that working age people with children are more likely to suffer poverty than pensioners. Pensioners are far more likely to be rich than younger age groups.

@Hortus
*I'm one of the people like your grandparents. I have a £500k house, nice car, investments, pension etc. I applied for my bus pass because I'm entitled to it, I've paid taxes all my working life, paid tens of thousands to Cardiff council in council tax, the only benefits I ever took in my life was child benefit.

So quite honestly I can't see that giving me a free bus pass which I use less than once a week is a problem*
The problem is that we are in a terrible position as a country and need to be extremely careful about how we allocate public money. It's all very well giving pensioners free bus passes, gold plated public sector pensions and even universal state pensions now but this can really only morally be done if we can be sure that the younger generations that are currently funding all this will be able access similar provisions when they reach pensionable age. It is looking more and more likely that this isn't the case so essentially many of today's young people face a future where they will end up contributing just as much as you in taxation, will pay more to own assets and then will be entitled to much less than you in old age. Do you think this is fair or right?

The bus company is paid for every person on the bus. Disabled / OAP passes cost. Central government pay for the passes.

I don't know what a white card is but I imagine it is similar.

Clearly showing my age but when I was young it was 10p in Edinburgh!

I've got a free bus pass. Too disabled to use it. Looked at it the other day and saw it expired 3 years ago. I expect the same applies to many of us ageing freeloading pensioners.

The one I don't understand is why I can't use mine on 'ring and ride'.

That may be so, statistically, but unfortunately those "seniors" (are you American?) don't tend to club together and share that wealth equally.

Guess you didn't know that Scotland has higher income tax either.

I’m in England and a day bus pass is £6 here or £26 for the week - so not a million miles away from what you pay.

Also I’m supportive of all pensioners getting a bus pass if it encourages them to drive less, or at least have an option when they don’t feel up to driving - there are too many people still behind the wheel when their driving abilities are sub par.

My point is that OP is asserting that, because her grandparents are well off and well provided for, all older people must be too. They are not, was my point. I'm well aware of the levels of poverty in this country and their spread, thank you, having been there myself.

Put all the money you save with your free prescriptions, towards your bus fare. Sorted 😄

I’m £96 per week to commute.

I fully agree that bus passes should be means tested.

£1.75 a bus journey in London ,can’t remember what the daily cap is

Public transport in the UK is shocking. But I am thanking my lucky stars that I'm Welsh when it comes to prescriptions, and now that I have a DC going to uni. It would have been very difficult financially if we were from England and wanting a uni degree- I really feel for English parents.

I live where there are no buses. Nearest bus stop is three miles away. I shall be entitled to a bus pass soon, but as I would have to drive to the bus stop in order to use it, I think I shall probably not claim it at all.

I would just be glad you still have public transport. Pensioners around me can't leave their villages if they give up driving.

What a silly thread. Of course it's not the case that no-one is paying! Are you assuming everyone in your town (people who don't have a 'pass' and people who pay,) are all on the bus at the same time as you? 🙄 NEWSFLASH! Lots of people will use the bus when you're not there/not on the bus! 😱

Except it costs £9 here (South Wales) for a return ticket to the nearest chemist so....

Yes, but your post only makes sense if you think pensioners are somehow more likely to be poorer than everyone else. So you are saying that OP's grandparents are the exception and not the rule. The reality is though that pensioners are now one of the richest groups in society.

Sounds like the problem is the price being too expensive for those who do pay!

There was a thread recently about this that ran to many pages, and it just made me think in the end that free bus travel should be either universal. For the sake of the environment if nothing else, as people who could easily drive were describing making the decision to use the bus because they got their free travel on retirement.

Bus pass use is highest amongst pensioners least likely to have a car, who are more likely to be infirm/ senile or on a low income.

Wealthier and younger pensioners have cars, and either don't use their business pass or rarely use them.

So, the system means tests itself- for free! But, yeah, let's set-up a means testing system and employ people to run it, because of people's perceptions and prejudices against the elderly.

Makes sense.

I only use the bus because it's free, as do many of my pensioner neighbours and friends. It's certainly not for convenience (half hourly service in the mornings and hourly in the afternoons because it becomes a school bus, last bus at 5.45 and none on Sundays).

If I had to pay, it would be far cheaper to use the car for the 2.5 mile journey into town, and it's definitely more convenient. But that would mean a lot more traffic on the roads of our congested town centre and even more pressure on parking.

And if we all stopped using the bus, they'd probably stop running it. Then those who can't afford a car or who don't drive would be really stuffed.

I have one - I don't really need it as I rarely use buses as where I live there is such a poor and unreliable service that I will pay and use the train (although I do get reduced fare on that as well). And I like the convenience of not having to find somewhere to park and the new town new parking app problem
I think it is a good way of getting older and sicker people to drive less (plus some exercise getting to the bus stop).
Plus gives me the freedom to read and people watch.

Read this post and the post above it to see two completely contradictory arguments.

Either it's only the poor and infirm that are using the bus passes anyway so it's be default means tested

Or

The bus passes are being used by car owning pensioners that would otherwise have been clogging up the roads

You can't really have it both ways.