AIBU to think that old folk sholdn't be allowed to use their bus passes before 10am!

[Saltire]

And also AIBU to not understand why First bus have changed the bus times.

Ihave had to walk 2.5 miles to work today and 2.5 miles back a gain and feel ill, my legs are sore, my feet are numb and sore, I am worn out and am almost crying with fatigue.
Why did I have to do this?
Beause 1st bus have cut the number and size of buses "because they are losing money due to the number of pensioners with buss passes using teh service".
So what happens? All the pensioners get on the smaller buses (27 seaters instead of double decker) buses and fill them up, then every single other person waiting at stops along the way can't get on because bus is fulll and drives right past. Twice. in one morning.

Why do they feel the need to be on the first buses of the day? Can't they wait and let those who need to go to work get on the buses? Then coming back the 2.15 was full - again a 27 seater, all pensioners, and if I'd waited till the next one wouldn't have been home in time for DSes

Damn pesky old people

Hope we all die before we get old eh?

I'd better hurry up then.

beanies - have you any idea how utterly vile that post sounded?

That's Copernicus, Stigaloid. OP has said she can't bike.

I TOTALLY understand why you feel fed up Saltire but you can't blame the old folk, even if some of them are vile.

First bus are awful and PT is notoriously bad in rural areas.

Agree that bus routes should be NATIONALISED and not run as profit making organisations.

Thanks for the spelling correction Janos.

She could still get a moped.

I lived somewhere once where there was only one bus a week. Which was filled with pensioners. So I hitch hiked. Not saying that this should be considered an option, of course, just that crap public transport is a real issue all over the country.

Don't resent the pensioners for doing so but I really can understand Saltire's frustration.

Stigaloid - ok I already have to get a buss at 9am, the ealier one before that is 08.15, I'll get that then shall I> I shall get the Dses up ealier and myself so that I don't offend the pensioners.
I can't buy a moped because I can't afford to

Headbangingwombat - what about a young woman with disability issues? Should she have to walk into town because there ar eno buses?

Of course not but why should a pensioner who also has a disability have to do the same. The problem is with the bus companies, not the pensioners.

The freedom pass in london has recently been extended so that holders can travel 24 hours a day on all london transport - the 9.30am thing was removed. The thinking was that elderly people often need to get to hospitals and things for early appointments and so it was not fair to restrict them.

Personally I think it's a good thing that the elderly are able to get around for free as it encourages people to keep mobile, get out and about and so on. My parents and my in laws love theirs.

On one of my old bus routes to work I once had 6 buses go past as they were full of schoolchildren. ASAIK kids go free or cheap. But I don't begrude them the ride to school - they really should put on more buses if they are full. Not start ranking passengers in order of importance.

Don't tell my parents or in laws i described them as elderly though

Of course YABU - old folks have lives too! They have every right to be out and about as they wish.

Jeez, some of the posts on this thread are so ageist.

1. Why assume older people have nowhere to go or nothing to do before 9am, 10am or wherever? By doing so, you assume everyone else has a greater right than someone with a bus pass.

Those older people might be: on their way to work; on their way to a hospital appointment; catching a train; meeting a friend; off to their daughter's house to look after her kids while SHE goes to work. Or all kinds of other reasons that are NONE of your business...

1. Social isolation in older people is one of the biggest factors in depression, ill-health and fear. Many older people - unlike people under 65 - may no longer be allowed to drive, or have access to a car. Many women of that generation simply do not drive. Public transport is just that: transport for the public.

Take it up with the bus company, your local authority and your MP. Go ask Age Concern/Help the Aged what they will do about it (and I look forward to their response ).

Don't condemn probably THE most socially excluded group to a life of further isolation and approprobation...

You can buy a moped for less than £500. Assuming you pay £1 each way (i.e. £2 per day) for your bus journey, then it is cheaper to buy a moped than take a bus over year.

It is an option. Otherwise continue taking the bus but don't be so disrespectful to people who need to take the bus because old age stops them from physically being able to do anything else. And how do you not know that they need to be somewhere. Maybe a lot of them are widows and widowers out to the only social activity they can do in order to be with people and not be at home lonely? How do you not know that they volunteer somewhere and they need to get to work too? How do you not know that they need to get to a dr's appointment? Why should they wait until you say it is okay for them to travel for it to be okay?

I appreciate your frustration, i'd take it out on the bus company or find other ways of getting to work - find someone who lives near you to give you a lift if you have to, but don't berate the elderly because life doesn't work out in your favour.

PLus these days (and always) a lot of older people work too.

Well yes, what vulpusina said!

But what should the bus companies do, realistically? assuming you don't want to stop older people travelling freely but you do have to actually make a profit?

you can't just have lots of services provided freely, not without higher taxes etc which most people aren't going to agree too (though I personally would happily live in a communist nirvana with universal free bus transport and high taxes but most people wouldn't).

I wonder if a small token fare, rather than a free bus pass, would help.

OAPs are not allowed to use their bus pass before 9.30 here where I live.

We call all OAPs Twirlys because the bus drivers say to them "to early" when they try to get on the bus before 9.30.

I think its the bus company that the problem is with here. Write to them, tell them you can't get on the bus as its full.

Not the OAP's fault, a free bus pass is one of the "perks" of working all your days and contributing to society.

Fennel the councils etc pay the bus companies, the bus companies don't do it for free. The provision for this does come out of our taxes.

I know that teh bus companies aren't happy about it because claiming the money back etc is rather complicated and alos linked into their performance in certain areas. So the bus companies don't like it, they would ratehr just take people who pay on the spot. So maybe that is why they are squeezing services to put pressure to change things.

Otherwise the bus companies are getting all the money from the rush hour people, and any older people who have to travel early, with teh council effectively subsidising them by paying for journeys when fewer people are travelling during off peak times. While what they should be encourgaed to do is run more services when people want and need them.

The system works better in London because it is more joined up with the TFL thing.

Dad uses his pass to get to the Hospital- can't see them only giving appts after 11 (time he would get there if he left at ten), he works as well- part time but nonetheless, he does so depsite being past 65. He needs to get there also, and can't drive- cycles often but tbh I think he's silly as he has no feeling in his lower leg and could have an accident.

YABU.Understandably so becuase public trnasport is horrific, but still- yabu

I'd rather they were on the bus as well than drving like my 90 next year Grandad does; he's lethal, just abandond s the car rather than park and shouldn't be in it, but to dob him in would make my Mum's life Hellish (sole carer, cannot drive, walk to bus and poor mobility herself). Anything that gets drivers loike him off the road IMO.

And yes- old codgers- unpleasant

I don't think they should get bus passes at all, tbh. I think it should be means-tested, I really do.

'Oh, I paid taxes?'

So fucking what?! Everyone who works does.

The system probably does work better in big cities, where we live has a lot of pensioners and relatively few wage-earners, and I know the council is struggling with this policy.

and I read about how Preston is having a hard time because lots of pensioners go through Preston bus station on their days out and Preston has to fund all the bus journeys starting from its terminal, but none of the pensioners ever stops to spend money in Preston. so it does seem that this policy is problematic.

the notion of deserving a perk because you've worked is fine in some ways but what if a society can't afford that perk? or if the cost of it is being carried by other people? say with bus travel, it tends to be the less well off who travel by bus, so even if they are of working age they might not be able to easily afford price increases.

and I'm not sure that the over 60s are actually, currently, a particularly marginalised group. but it's hard to say this without being seen as being ageist.

I don't have a personal axe to grind, I don't travel by bus much, I like cycling and walking, and I have a car, but it does seem that this policy is not working.

Tsk ExP I told you of for that t'other day

everyone pays taxes- unless theya re exempt from VAT, roadtax, fuel suty anyway

It should probably be means tested though; I know of well paid female execs commuting to work on free passes and earning more than we get combined- don't quite get that tbh.

Maybe for anyone who can claim pension credit?