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.

If children don’t need bus tickets because they should only go locally.

So should pensioners they picked where they live after working hard all their lives to buy those houses obviously. So only local places you can walk.

It's more here. School buses aren't included in the fare cap sadly.

Well the good news is that from January maximum single bus fare will be £2 again providing the bus company has opted in so fingers crossed buses in your area @Itchthescratch are partaking https://www.gov.uk/guidance/3-national-bus-fare-cap

That's adult fare. So even if your child needs to go there and back and can walk part of the way that's £4 a day rather than the £11 it seems to be now

So kids get punished if they’re late for school, schools complain that late kids disrupt classes, but they shouldn’t use public transport to get there during rush hour?

I think you will find that most pensioners who can afford not to hardly use their free bus travel

Thats nonsense in London

I'm in Yorkshire and all under 16s pay £1 for a single journey fare - I thought this was the case across the country but obviously that's not the case

School-only buses aren't included in this.

It's only a freebie when the pensioner uses it. Plus it's only valid between 9 - 30 am and 11PM. I had to pay recently when I had a 9am hospital appointment and also if I come back home on late bus, I have to pay.

I agree with every young person under 24 getting a free bus pass

There is an endless pot of money to subsidies private car travel but not trains or busses.

crashes alone cost upwards of £15bn per annum and some estimates have it nearer £40bn https://www.reesjeffreys.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/RJRFSavingLivesSavingMoney.pdf

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=b7969215-fefd-4ce3-8a37-5d2300b2626f this was 201 so the cost will have risen in the last 9 years

Leave the pensioners alone. Those that can afford better tend not to use the bus and those that cannot need the lifeline so they continue to go out, see people and keep fitter.

My mother in law drives to my house to use her bus pass to go to town 🤣

There is a bus stop at the end of her street she is just peculiar.

Walking distance tends to shrink a lot as you get older. What is a perfectly fine walki)g distance for an 11 year old may not be fine for an 80 year old.

Healthy children should be able to walk or cycle 2 or 3 miles. I do think there ought to be exceptions to that limit if there isn’t a safe walking / cycling route (not just parents being overprotective). If parents want to choose a different school, they pay.

In which case, why not "possibly" ?

Unless you have some sort of inside track on why the future is going to turn out to be any less of a clusterfuck than the past.

I don't think people would complain if it was £1. Here there isn't much difference between an adult daily ticket and a 5 year olds.

I don't think any hospital appointments for pensioners should be before 10am - so they can use the free bus pass and not the car park

Absolutely this. The ageism on MN is a disgrace recently.

I was thinking the same as I did the exact same as you. I still walk that route often and it does not take me anywhere near 75 minutes. Then again, if the kid is getting driven everywhere it’s no wonder they can’t walk well.

Weird! I was using Google Maps estimates. They tend to be pretty accurate in my experience. Not every 3 miles journey is the same. Crossings etc can make a huge difference

It is pensioner bashing. Yes, pensioners are entitled to free public transport. For many it is a lifeline. However, a great many don't use it at all because they are still driving or because public transport is not much use for them because it's such a poor service or because they can't manage the walk from home to the bus stop, especially with shopping. In London you pay an annual admin free to get a 60+ Oyster card so technically it's not completely fee. (The Freedom Pass which kicks in at state retirement age is completely free, however.)

It's not a competition. Everybody who needs it should get free or subsidised public transport to get as many as possible out of cars.

However, it's very noticeable in London, where schoolchildren do get free bus travel, that a great many use it to travel one or two stops which most healthy children could easily walk. That's not great either.

How is this thread an example of ageism? Is anyone questioning any pensioner entitlement automatically ageist?

Well they do where I live. If you choose a school that is not your nearest then you don’t get free transport.
I am another one that walked or cycled 3 miles each way to school.

Studies have shown that providing young people with free travel doesn't decrease walking. I would trust studies over your observations.

Sorry, bit confused. Are the Scottish taxed more?

Until 22 in Scotland plus pensioners from 60. Why should pensioners not get them, we paid into the system for years. I am glad parents get funded nursery places, free breakfast etc but my kids are 28 and there was poor maternity help and no funding for nursery places. I had to give up a job to look after mine as it was not cost effective. I lost years of paying into a pension......so don't begrudge me a bus pass

Then many pensioners would be entitled to a bus pass on medical grounds so it wouldn't be saving much money