School children should receive free bus travel before pensioners?

[Itchthescratch]

My child is starting a school where it will cost around £2k for bus travel. This school is local and one of the closest schools to us. The other schools close to us are much worse in terms of opportunities and academic outcomes. I can afford the bus fare easily but I worry that some poorer families will really struggle to send their children to the higher achieving school because of the cost.

I understand that there isn't an endless pot of money but surely it would make sense to give school children free travel ahead of other groups like pensioners? School children are statistically much more likely to suffer from poverty (child poverty is almost double pensioner poverty)and it seems crazy that we aren't supporting social mobility whilst we let all pensioners travel for free on buses.

Your private bus service wouldnt be covered by free public transport for children either. Its not an essential service.

lol did you even read the articles. You think people born before or during the war didn’t live till middle age?! 😆😆

Either way the free bus passes are not keeping pensioners healthy as you claimed. Or do you have actual evidence to link as I would be interested 🙄

Exactly! My mother walks to my house twice a week to keep her fitness up...3 miles and it takes her a lot less than 75mins! And she's 78
As a child i walked 2 and a half miles to school every day and back.

I can afford to get them to school and never suggested otherwise.
How am I a bully? Are pensioners really the most defenceless in society? I would argue children are. They can't vote and can't earn their own money. They have very little influence over their financial position and are at the complete mercy of others.
Shame on you

You still do, if you attend your closest school.

It is not economically efficient to bus single kids from all over a wide area to a school, because their parents are picky & don't like the closer one. It is efficient to run a bus picking up a whole group of kids from a village with no secondary & take them all to the comp in the nearby town, and this is exactly what is offered.

Great, she doesn't need a bus pass then

This has got to be satire, it’s ridiculous

No, everyone doesn't get this. Read up on the rules!!

Oh and children from low income families usually get free transport to schools further away (2-6 miles).

So, because you have decided to send your child to a better school, which is your prerogative and which I wholeheartedly agree with, pensioners have to give up their bus passes so the kids can travel for free?

You do realise some pensioners actually spend hours on buses in the winter keeping warm right? Just being driven around because it saves heating their home? Especially now that the winter heating allowance has been means tested.

I'm sorry, but that's just wrong.

Yes they do. Here are the rules.

https://www.gov.uk/free-school-transport

No you don’t! It’s not the same in all areas.

Indeed and probably supporters of banning over 70’s from driving.

Obesity rates are rising so the chances are that fewer pensioners were obese at school age than kids are now.

That doesn’t say all children get free transport to their nearest school.

This! Sick to death of the whining re the cost of children. Those that whine the most seem to be the ones that still manage to go on holiday every year , have new cars and endless crap they don’t need. Pay for your kids school transport and needs first. Then take out your car loans, book holidays and buy crap.

It’s like people choose to have kids and then scratch their heads saying am I supposed to pay for them? Yes you are and no you won’t be able to afford holidays every year, shiny cars and endless renos.

Not many 65 year olds can't walk a reasonable distance. It isn't an elderly bus pass that comes in at say 80 or even 75. There isn't much of a mobility argument for younger pensioners.

Local transport can be funded nationally or locally or through a hybrid of both. It also is true that ultimately we can only find so many things and we have competing priorities. Just because there are different bodies and funding mechanisms etc this doesn't detract from this ultimate truth. There is only so much public money to go around and everyone can't have everything

Funding for school transport could come from lots of pots. You are trying to muddy the water deliberately

They get it to their nearest school (with available places etc) if its not walking distance.

If the school is under 3 miles they dont need a bus they can walk.

She needs it to visit my father in hospice..stage 4 cancer. That's partly why she walks to mine twice a week, it's for her mental health at this extremely hard time
You sound nice...not!

Who is the bully now?

It’s free in London with a zip oyster and there are a lot of complaints about rowdy behaviour on buses, including from pensioners/those going to work. In some areas they put on extra buses at school time. Sometimes the buses get so full at school rush hours the kids have to walk anyway. I am pleased it’s free below 16 as it gives them independence but there are also complaints about loitering etc as they then get around more.

As a Londoner I always think it’s terrible that kids have to pay extortionate bus fares elsewhere.

DD often spends the day with friends in and around London. If she gets busses they don’t cost her anything and train journeys are under £1.

It’s not just about walking, it’s about quick reactions, pain, driving under pressure, keeping up to correct speed and a host of other things. Everything deteriorates as you age.

I think the cost would be a lot more to the public purse if free bus rides were moved from pensioners to school kids. Most pensioners don’t use buses. Because they’re unreliable, dirty and full of dodgy people. I don’t know any pensioners personally who use the bus. I think people have this misconception that there’s a herd of pensioners using buses, when the reality is there isn’t, so people’s anger against pensioners getting a freebie is misplaced.

That is not the same as saying all children get free transport to school.