Bus pass time!
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Had mine since I was sixty! I was one of the lucky ones. We use ours a lot - for visiting our local town, when we go out with friends for lunch in Leeds or Harrogate, when we want to visit another local town, and for our local airport bus - so we can be off a plane, and back home in twenty five minutes!
Like johndailey (earlier post) we love to sit upstairs and see things we can't see from the car.
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Have just bought a senior railpass
Cost £70 for three years
Have had bus pass for 14yrs and life time free pensioner rail pass,including international travel since 1994
They are only free for you and your colleagues. Everyone else is paying higher fares to cover the cost.
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Have just bought a senior railpass
Cost £70 for three years
Have had bus pass for 14yrs and life time free pensioner rail pass,including international travel since 1994
They are only free for you and your colleagues. Everyone else is paying higher fares to cover the cost.
How does it go ..Am i bovered?
and no ,every one is paying higher fares because of the way the franchise system was set up
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Have just bought a senior railpass
Cost £70 for three years
Have had bus pass for 14yrs and life time free pensioner rail pass,including international travel since 1994
They are only free for you and your colleagues. Everyone else is paying higher fares to cover the cost.
Subject to confirmation I imagine the poster might have been a rail employee so the fact that he enjoys free rail travel was in part in lieu of his wages whilst at work which continues into retirement.
David
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The bus pass is a wonderful invention. I have had mine since I was 60. ( men only got it at 60 because of a European Court ruling that said it was discrimatory to allow women to get it at 60 whilst men had to wait until 65) Obviously since then as retirement
ages have merged that is no longer a problem. We use ours a lot both here in MK and around the country. Had some very interesting conversations on buses!!!David
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The problem is the age at which one can apply for a bus pass is now linked to state retirement age.
Many young'uns will probably never see one.
(I don't think the life expectancy projections will prove to be accurate at all especially for the regions outside the prosperous south)
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Yes, bus pass age is linked to state pension age, so there might just be a few left who are going to get a pass earlier than 65, as that increases for women towards 65.
The wording is (I always like this) "When a man reaches the state pension age of a woman the same age as him"
It always sounds nonsense at first, but it does make sense.
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Although a recipient of a pass, I feel that an annual fee of, say £25, would not be unreasonable.
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Although a recipient of a pass, I feel that an annual fee of, say £25, would not be unreasonable.
I have often thought the same. They are valid for five years and the administrative burden falls on the local council which I doubt gets an recompense from the Government. If that did happen what I would want to see is that people on low income did not pay
and as a quid pro que it should be able to be used all across the UK.David
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Although a recipient of a pass, I feel that an annual fee of, say £25, would not be unreasonable.
I have often thought the same. They are valid for five years and the administrative burden falls on the local council which I doubt gets an recompense from the Government. If that did happen what I would want to see is that people on low income did not pay
and as a quid pro que it should be able to be used all across the UK.David
Agree with you both, however, what do you call a low income David? If it developes into a means test, then surely costs would have to go up to cover the admin work involved, thereby negating any small profit to the local authority...
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I am not suggesting means testing as all that I have read on the subject suggests it costs more to implement than the benefits acheived. I just think a simple rule that those on Pension Credit would not pay the card fee.
David
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Means testing does indeed cost a disproportinate amount to collect so that would be counter productive. I appreciate you were not suggesting that David.
To be honest, I don't know what pension credit is.
I just think that it would be nice to reward those that have willingly and honestly paid their dues into the system without government attemps to claw it back.
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Pension Credit is a top up to the regular State Pension for those whose income fall below a certain level, so in effect the poorest pensioners.
David
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Anyone on pension credit (the guarantee part) will also get full Council Tax Reduction i.e. you don't pay it.
Pension credit is a 'means tested' benefit, but because the 'means testing' has already been done to establish that you get it, that automatically passports you onto other benefits.
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Never been on benefits. It's always been me paying out so I would like a non means tested bus pass please.
Agree with what you say Fysh, which is what we have at the moment. However, as I'm more or less in the same situation as yourself, I don't mind a small charge for the pass...
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Ironically, i have just completed my application for a bus pass this morning.
I have been eligible for one for some time, but have never bothered until now. A friend of mine suggested that i should apply. Not sure about a 'small administartion fee'. I may not use it much, and then it may become cheaper to drive. As someone who doesn't
qualify for pension credit, but will have to budget much more carefull from now on, i reckon i have earn't a bus pass for free.0
