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.

Free bus travel in Scotland for 5 -21 and pensioners.

For goodness sake...read the previous posts. Simples!!!!

In Scotland I believe the kids just go to their local sxhools

Can we just be completely clear that if pensioners don't choose to take up their free travel option there is no cost to the public purse. If they do choose to take it up they travel on a bus that would run anyway. They pay no fare, but their journeys bump up the stats that show how well used the service is, so may as others have already said help to keep it going for everybody.

Pensioners in other parts of the country may not travel by bus, but every time I get on a bus in London there are people of all ages there.

I don't think it is either/or. Both groups can get free travel. Kids are not allowed to drive, and a lot of pensioners struggle to drive safely as they get older.

But there are people stuck in the middle... working age adults at maybe could not afford bus fare, and there are no concessions for them.

@Doriangraysattic there does seem to be the idea that all pensioners bought a house for £4K and have money to burn. Mostly they are still living in the house so it’s not money in their bank. Pensioners definitely attract a lot of hatred.

My Mum left school at 16 & had to hand over all her wages to her parents. My parents worked 6 days a week. None of the perks young people have nowadays. Most pensioners had no TV, no phone, no central heating, new clothes & holidays were scarce.

Growing up in the 70s & 80s we definitely had less than people with young children do now.

It’s not a race to the bottom but I can’t see why people dislike pensioners. We’ll all be old one day & at this rate we won’t get any perks.

This is true but we also know that the combined cost of the disabled and OAP passes is over £1 billion due to current number of journeys taken. The bus companies are ultimately compensated by the taxpayer for the journey. It's not small fry and we have to question why we are desperate to subsidise journeys to the point where we make non commercially viable routes viable.

Why am I not surprised this is your response

i walked to school (40 minutes), my dc walked to school (35 mins) then cycled when it was 4 miles away. If it’s your nearest school and it’s over 3 miles you can apply for a bus pass.

I imagine future generations will have things we don't have now. They will look back and say that we had to cope without flying cars etc.

Unfortunately working people today won't be enjoying old age in the way pensioners are now. All forecasts show things will get worse for future generations. The amount of debt we are accusing through ridiculous notions like the triple lock is only making this worse.

You are wrong to assume that giving more to pensioners today will preserve more for future generations. It's actually the complete opposite. Someone is going to have to foot the bill for all of this

@Whitestarqueen

where I live very few pensioners use the wholly inadequate bus service, the service into the city is ok but most the older people choose not to go into the city unless they have hospital appointment, they all drive to get to “interesting” places it seems, the garden centre being hot favourite, no bus to there. Use of buses is a city privilege

Ok, so take the passes off both groups.
Both don't go out much, don't get the bus into town centres where they spend money in shops and cafes.

Dear Lord, you are just totally not getting this are you, there are only so many ways I can put this. I have come to the conclusion you are not choosing to listen as you don't want a conversation, a reasoned discussion, you just want agreement.

I realised the futility of hitting my head against a brick wall years ago, so I'll leave you in your own deluded world. Have a good night. I'm sure there will be some noddy dogs along soon.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

in other parts there are no buses, not even to the main hospital here, well you can take 3 buses taking over 2.5 hours each way or drive 30 minutes

Again, this isn't about disabled people. The only reason they have been mentioned is because there isn't a standalone figure for pensioners and it would be wrong to not point out that the £1 billion figure included disabled people too.

How will taking bus passes off of pensioners improve anything?

It is no more than my surprise that you just don't seem to get it...despite it all laid out on here for you. I cannot explain any more clearly than previous posters who are more eloquent and articulate than I. There is no hope.......

Not absolutely true. At one point in my teens I had to pay adult fares. ( I think they kicked in at 14 or 15) Whilst I could walk to school we had to get a bus to a sports centre for PE lessons. I definitely think fares should be free for school pupils. But I would like to also retain the old person's pass, maybe just off peak. Perhaps if transport companies clamped down on fare dodgers they could issue more concessionary passes.

TBH. The garden centre OAPS are the older generation of OAPS. We have two generations of OAPS, 65 to 80 and 80 to 100 or more. When my Mum passed last year, she was not only an OAP, but also a Mum to OAPS.

I tend to use the bus pass to get me to the gym or to football or just to go to another town and visit their museum or trawl around their charity shops. If I had to pay the bus fare, I wouldn't go.

I have understood you, I just don't agree with you. Why? Because your arguments are either subjective (that the wider benefits of OAP passes are substantial enough to warrant the cost) or based on technical matters that are mostly intended to muddy the water. Insisting money has to come from specific departments, journeys that school children take are all fixed contract obligations etc is just clearly wrong.

Good night

3 miles is quite a long walk

Sigh.......

I don't live in London, so I don't get free underground. However, I can get a bus for free to a Zone 6 station, then get the tube to zone 2 stations for 2.60 off-peak, reduced by 1/3 with a 60 plus rail card, bringing it down to 1.70. Then I walk.

Haven’t RTFT but it’s the same point with the tube. Free for anyone over 60, but children from age 11 have to pay. So you have lots of adults taking the tube to their highly paid city banks, law firms, etc, for free while high school students are paying just to get to school. Insane.

The trick is getting to Mornington Crescent from Zone 6 avoiding Zone 1. I can walk to Camden Lock or the British Museum from Mornington Crescent, no sweat. I get a tremendous sense of achievement that I have got into London for 1.70.