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

Saltire I dont think a lot of the later comments were aimed at you, but people who raised disability as well, as we all know that can be an incendiary as well

It must be ahrd for oyu struggling with walking, I have arthritis occasionally and I wouldn't fancy being in the shoes of anyone who has anything more permanent. But you having a very geunien ned for the palce doesn't mean others don't as well IYSWIM- Mum has a pelvis that clicks out suddenly and she needs bueses to get to appts etc, placing her in a similar position to you I imagine. An unenviable one.

I now with my boys (ASD) I sometimes wish they had a switch on thier heads that would beam 'Hidden Disability' when required; I suspect the same mythical flare would help you as well, perhaps if we combine it with a laser we can use it to punish anyone who starts to get aggressive, old or not? .maybe I will ask DH to buiold and patent one, he's been doing his lighting degree a week now- should be long enough

Saltire - I also passed your concerns about the open evening at Neville Lovett onto mil, who was most upset and will be taking up with the Head.

Hope that helps.

Scary - well here's another one, trivial probably . I got a letter asking if we could attend parents evening on 17th September. If unalbe to attend we ahd to return a slip and the tutor would ring us. I'm still waiting![hm]

My friend is 24 and holds a free disabled bus pass. She doesn't drive. She has to attend the doctors and hospital on a regular basis because of her disability. She takes appointments when they are offered because our hospital is not one of the best for waiting times so its often a case of a 9am appointment or nothing for 2 weeks which for her isn't advisable. She could get a taxi but because she doesn't work she cannot afford it and if she was to exchange her bus pass for taxi vouchers she would lose out in the long run as they are only for about £60 a year which would work out at 6 hospital visits for her. She therefore has to get the bus when others are going to work! The same could apply to all these pensioners that get in your way. Don't get me wrong there are some right rude old buggers out there but they can't all be tarred with the same brush. The nurse at our GP surgery has often said that the younger generation are too lazy to get out of bed for appointments first thing and its only the older people who take them.

Are you a disabled lady? If you are then i appologise for saying this.

Have society really become that lazy that 2.5 miles to walk is work is a HUGE hike? Really? That is no distance at all, especially when you don't have to be at work until 11am! I am more that one would take the bus for that short a distance?

Again if your disabled then i am sorry, if you are not then

MsSparkle if by disabled you mean mobility impaired (not everyone cou8nts themself as disabled) then yes, that ahs been made clear

well it should have been made clear in the op

everyone blames the bus companies!! Blame the government and your councils who are trying to get away with paying the bus companies as little as they can for carrying shed loads of pensioners around.

Dh works in the industry and it has been a nightmare fighting and showing data to prove how much their costs have gone up (providing bigger buses for carrying more passengers, when most of the passengers are not paying!!)

What stigaloid and mmelindt said.

I know Riv, but Mum would die if I called her disabled (probably becuase hers comes and goes so much- some days cant walk, some fine)

Oh I just blame Thatcher vcoz she Was

PixiNanny just wanted to let you know I know what you mean. DH has a broken vertebra in his back (you read that right; BROKEN. we've been waiting a year and a half now for surgery to fix it). He is able to walk or stand for about ten minutes - one or the other, it's a time limit. When we go out together he pushes the pram so he can lean on the handle rather than bring his cane (he HATES HATES HATES that he needs a cane and will endure anything to not use it).

Invariably when we are out on weekends an old lady will shout at him on the bus, usually for politely asking if he can get the pram by her trolley.

He does not ask them to give up their seat and will actually give his seat up if someone who looks like they need it gets on the bus.

It doesn't matter though. To these ladies he is just some young punk trying to infringe on them. They frequently ruin his day to the point where he doesn't like to leave the house anymore.

There are times I wish he would carry his cane so his "hidden" condition wasn't so hidden, but he is a young, otherwise healthy and fit man, and needing a cane is a devastating blow to his ego/esteem/etc so we carry on without it.

as a comparatively "young" woman who has mobility issues herself I have experienced horrible times on public transport .. dd and ds have also hidden disabilities, and I "look" fit and healthy .. I refuse to use crutches or a cane as it makes me feel horrible and I cant stand the stares from other people ( another thread lol !!) I would rather put up with the pain, but I am only able to walk short distances and would have real problems standing on a bus or train ..

but I think that a large part of the argument here is about society's bad attitudes to others - be they disabled, aged or whatever..

First should most definitely be putting on extra buses - if the fee paying passengers are unable to fit on the damn buses then First's profits will go down --
Guess what that means ? Yup..fewer buses...
Who on earth is the muppet running the company anyhow ??

can I just add that First are not the only bus company in the country so it is unfair to tarnish the rest of the bus companies with the same reputation.

With regards to it all being the bus company's fault, well ,most routes are sunsidised by local councils. Timetables and faretables are designed by the local councils and put out to tender. This will also specify size of vehicles, and at what time bus passes are to be accepted.Best value will then win the tender.

So, the number and size of buses is down the local authorities.

With regards to the revenue from the bus passes, it is a very complicated process to claim it back (trust me, I spend a lot of time trying to claim it for my company), but the basisc premise is that bus companies should not gain or lose revenue from accepting the national bus pass.

So basically, an average fare is worked out on each route from existing passenger data and the bus companies can then claim a percentage of this average fare, usually about 30%, it then has to be claimed from all the district councils, not the main local authority, so records must be kept of which stop they are at each time a bus pass is presented, and then claimed.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at, is don't automatically blame the bus company. Some are small family run affairs, trying to compete with multi-nationals like Arriva and Stagecoach, that are providing an essential service (especially in rural areas), and providing some competition to the larger companies to stop them becoming too powerful!

Duritzfan I so agree with your post - that some of society have such bad attitudes to others and the extreme case of this is the tragic and sickening pilkington case.

Poor attitudes are so often on display on public transport.
The pushing, agressive and competitive nature of people just comes to the fore. My DH always says he wants to get a little video cam and record incidents and put it on a website to name and shame!

As I am pregnant, I ask those (who may have hidden disability or may just be that day less able to stand) in the priority seats very politely if they require the seat - if they say they need it then there is no issue - end of as I don't assume they are or are not disabled and so on.

What also blows me away is when someone gets on with crutches and other people still refuse to offer that person a seat!

Like marenmj I so agree that it really can ruin your day to see just how horrible people are.

I get really fed up with assumptions as to who is less able to stand - and I have been amazed at how often it has been people with clear mobility issues or who are pregnant, or who are less able to stand who have actually offered to stand for me on public transport without being asked. I do sometimes look like utter rubbish and look like I am going to drop, while others bury their head but I figure the context in this, where those who are less able to stand but still offer to help is that they know, just like marenmj's dh, from personal experience just how rubbish people can be.

My mum relies on her pass too. It takes over an hour for the bus to get into town where she lives, so why shouldn't she get on the 9.30 bus? If she gets on the later bus then it would be going on for lunch time and then all the office workers would complain there are too many pensioners in the shops over lunchtime!

My mum needs to get the bus at the moment too because my dad had an accident in June and he is not able to drive for many many months because of a broken pelvis.

YABU.

not the fault of the pensioners,company dont provide adequate bus at peak time

maybe they too have appointments etc to attend and also dont like standing being squashed on a packed bus

save your ire for first bus

This is a particular problem in areas where there a relativley large number of relatively less well off pensioners. I feel sorry for Saltire.

It does not happen in all areas of the country. However, in some places the subsidy the Govt gives to councils to run the free bus pass scheme is simply not enough hence the bus companies have to cut their cloth. They are not charities. If we want free bus passes for pensioners then they have to be paid for. Problem is that socialism sounds fine as long as someone else pays. This was Gordon Brown's big idea and is an unfunded promise.

That is not an ageist statement.

Maybe I should carry my cane with me, although I doubt it wuld make much difference.
Peoples bad attitude do come to the fore when public transport is concerned, and yes I probably do come across as horrible, but I suffer pretty badly too.
Today an old lady refused to move her shopping trolley which was sitting on teh seat beside her,so that a young man on crutches could sit down, her reason for not moving it "I'm a pensioner".I offered to put it in the luggage rack for her, which was right in front of her but "no thanks some young hooligan will probably steal it". Again young man asked to sit down and "I have a bus pass I am entitled to a seat" was the response.

Riven for him it isn't a fear of what other people will think. The cane doesn't help him any more than leaning on the pram does. Neither of them actually alleviate any of his pain, they just make it so he is capable of walking for fifteen minutes instead of ten.

Using a wheelchair would be counterproductive for him as the success of his surgery absolutely hinges on keeping active before and after the procedure. Not to mention, for him it hurts just as much to sit as it does to stand, standing just physically pinches the nerves down his legs so he will collapse if he stands too long.

If the cane actually made it so he wasn't in pain he would be perfectly capable of telling all and sundry to fuck off. He is a punk rocker after all

As for his inner self, I think he is perfectly entitled to feel a blow to his esteem because he, as young virile man, has lost some abilities. ATM he can't even hold our baby daughter because of the pain. To me, telling him that he ought not feel sad about the fact that at 30 he suddenly needs a cane would be adding insult to his injuries.