Pensioners bus passes

I have just been reading yahoo news,it seems that the British government are thinking about scrapping bus passes for all but the impoverished.

It seems to me that bus passes was a great way to get the elderly to exercise more ,it also gives them an incentive to get out and meet people thus keeping their brains more active.Plus it is really helpful when visiting hospital ,especially if your there almost every day,the hospital shuttle is great but can become very expensive without it.

But rethinking the topic perhaps the government don't want the elderly more active and alert..... If your fit your life span will increase ...If your brain is active less chance of elsheimer's=the government paying pensions longer

So much for encouraging people to use public transport instead of the car.

On the otherhand after funding the banks the government is proberly short of money, they are already trying to get the sick off DLA and are moving most of them on to ESA and reducing their benefits as of course there are very few jobs for the able bodied never mind the disabled.

reply to post by keldas


Seems stupid when the government made a big thing about the pollution plus global warming cars were causing.

I Know where we live most buses traveled with few passengers before bus passes,now they are half full.

At almost six pounds for a ten mile bus journey,most pensioners could not afford traveling many days a week,where as many go into town just to sit in the town center and watch people pass by(yes sad i know)but i have spoken to pensioners who do just that.

Ido think the government is clawing back money where it can,any way it can.

(Thanks bankers)

reply to post by illece




Above are all good posts, but I think you're correct about the financial aspect. Allegedly, it costs 100 pounds in administration fees for each pensioner bus pass. Or maybe it's 100 pounds every time a pensioner uses a bus pass ?

The answer would be to scrap the administration, not the bus passes.

Hope there's a massive (and justified, imo) outcry about this, resulting in another back down from that bunch of goons still being permitted to drive the UK into the ground head-first.

I mean look at the situation there: the UK government is handing UK taxpayer's hard earned money to Polish girls and women (who're living in Poland) if their Polish boyfriend is currently in the UK. And at the same time, they're floating the possibility of denying bus passes to UK elderly, most of whom paid tax all their working lives.