Angry Bay pensioners have again lambasted the council's new bus pass scheme after hundreds faced a second day of queuing - this time in the rain.
Torbay pass holders have been given two weeks to change their Devonwide card to a new 'Around Torbay' scheme.The big queues began on Wednesday - when 4,000 people turned up - and continued yesterday, with many frail and elderly residents again joining the lines waiting outside Connections and other offices.Pensioners say the swap has been badly executed and have called mayor Nick Bye to account, saying he should have made contingency plans because the Bay has a high population of retired people.One 70-year-old Torquay pensioner said: "All over the country people have the free bus pass. You only have to go up to Exeter where pensioners are being given the full free pass. Mr Bye should have asked central government for more money. There should not be this inequality for residents in Torbay."The Devonwide bus pass expires on April 1, leaving pensioners little time left to collect the new card.Torbay MP, Adrian Sanders, said: "I think the decision to restrict the concession was taken in haste. It was not thought through. My constituents have had problems getting the new card and it has caused confusion and inconvenience to older people."The council panicked and were trying to reduce costs, but they were aware of the costs involved at the beginning of the year."Torbay Council changed to a partly concessionary travel scheme after fears of mounting costs because holidaymakers were accommodated under the free scheme.Peter Carroll, from Paignton, said: "My wife waited in a long queue at Paignton Bus station. She is asthmatic and had to suffer fumes from several smokers. When she eventually got the pass the picture was so dark it was beyond recognition."Another Torquay pensioner, who did not want to be named, said: "I have been into two places and the queues are enormous. They have a machine which takes the photographs and this is holding everything up. I think it's appalling that elderly people are being treated like that, it's disgusting."According to Torbay Council around five per cent of pensioners who went to collect their new pass did not bring the required identification.They say information was communicated through local media coverage, various leaflets and posters detailing the new scheme.Geoff Coleman, senior transport planning co-ordinator said: "We have endeavoured to make it as easy as possible for people to collect their new Around Torbay passes."We could not envisage that over 4,000 residents would choose to collect their new passes on the first day and inevitably this did cause some delays, however, most people were good humoured and very reasonable."We did reiterate to those in the queues the passes were being issued for the next two weeks and not just for one day. But the majority of people chose to continue waiting."Following the initial rush, yesterday was much quieter with the majority of locations issuing passes experiencing no complications or long queues. We have also extended the opening times of the Connections offices and libraries."Under the scheme nearly 30,000 Torbay residents can travel for free on 30 bus services around the Bay. Passengers can also take advantage of a £1 'bolt-on' fee for journeys to Exeter and Plymouth.
