Sunday 18 March 2007

Free, no it's not.

Someone has to pay.

I have been asked by lots of people and there have been letters in the paper asking and indeed moaning about the decision by Torbay to remove it's self from the Devon County Wide scheme to provide free bus travel to two groups of people. The single, and simple answer is cost. It is costing too much. A couple of questions and a few examples will also help to explain why the whole idea is underfunded. The original idea was to provide free bus travel to pensioners and the disabled. But not only pensioners got included in the first group. In the UK you become a pensioner at 60 if you are female and 65 if you are male. But to refuse free travel to men over 60 while allowing it to women over 60 is discrimination on grounds of gender. So there are a lot of men out there still working, including me who can travel to a full time job free. Not free of course someone, some tax payer some where has to pay up. The second group, the disabled it seems to me is larger than the first. In fact I probable qualify under the disabled as, due to smoking I am unable to walk a long distance without taking a rest. This means, as my doctor once told me, I would qualify for a disabled drivers permit which would mean I could stick a blue badge in the windscreen of my car and park anywhere. ( OK not quite anywhere). All I had to do was get a form from the town hall and get him, my doctor, to sign it and I would get the blue badge. I would also have to get a car to stick the badge in, personally I would sooner walk. Or take a bus. Now when I heard that disabled people would get free travel I assumed it would be those who were, like pensioners, short of money due to their disability preventing them from holding down a job. If that were the criteria for disabled and the men between 60 and 65 were excluded the the 28 700 free pass holders in the Bay would be far less and much more affordable.

Three examples all from the past 3 days, on Friday I was just about to pull away from a stop in Torquay when I notice a female in her thirty's running towards the bus with her arm out. I wait a few second and she got on, produced a pass, asked for Paignton and then thanked me for waiting saying, "If I'd missed you I would have been late for work." Next yesterday I was just about to pull away from the stop in Fleet St when a female, early sixty's rushed up, "Hang on a sec please." She then called to a group of her 4 friends, "Come on girls, you've all got your passes." Where were they going? The Harbour. It's the next stop, 200 yards away. Downhill all the way. "Well it's free." she said, laughing. To which I replied, "No it's not. It's just cost the rate payers of Torbay almost £4.50." The fare, had they all paid would have been 60p each. £3.00. The last one was to day, a couple got on in Fleet Walk, "Abbey Rd." and flashed two passes. Abbey Rd is the next stop the other way from the Harbour and even closer. As they were both under 40 these passes must have been issued under the disabled rule. When they got off in Abbey Rd they must have been late for where they were going because they both set of at a run up the hill as fast as their legs could carry them.

So dear sweet little old lady, so old you can remember Nevil Chamberlain waving his piece of paper and dismissing the chance of war, when you want a day out in Exeter and have to pay £2.00 instead of going for free as you can now, you can have a guess at the reason. Mr Mayor, when you say you want to make changes for the good of the Bay and the people who live here have a look at what qualifies some people for a free bus pass a little more carefully.

5 comments:

Jimmy said...

So, its not just me then who wondered how these very abled bodied, young non audio/visualy impared people get passes, or why I have to ask where they are going - "its free, does it matter" - they reply, well someone has to pay for the fuel used and we have to tell them what distance was covered. My worst day saw a cash return of just £30 for a days work, but 189 free passes used, hmmm.

David said...

I had a look at the reasons you can get a disabled pass to day. Not quiet, get your mate to say you're disable, but not far of.

Anonymous said...

Bus passes for disabled people
You can get a free bus pass if for example, any of the following disabilities or injuries apply to you:
you're blind or partially sighted
you're profoundly or severely deaf
you're without speech
you have severe walking difficulties
you don't have use of both arms
you have a learning disability
you're medically unfit to drive
You can also get a free bus if you're getting either of the two benefits:
Disability Living Allowance
War Disablement Pension

The above is from the Government Fact sheet on free bus travel.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Bfsl1/BenefitsAndFinancialSupport/DG_10018680

Copy and paste and you will see. Nothing about Blue Badges.

Anonymous said...

The story the media either haven't grasped, or won't print...

The real scandal, unknown to most passengers, and certainly not being publicised by the councils, is that the concessionary fare schemes are being grossly underfunded.

Under devolved powers, but funded by all of the UK, for each concessionary free journey the bus company gets, I think, 67p...This isn't that much for a long trip, but at least it's a guaranteed income.

In a fit of meanness against English passengers our PM and Chancellor have again colluded in fraud...they have grossly under-estimated the increased take-up of passes, particularly by OAPs, (especially in the largely conservative South-East) and thus their contribution to the councils who organise the scheme is insufficient.

To make matters worse the councils involved often haven't had the funding to increase their support to a reasonable level...worst still, unbelievably, the government didn't "ring-fence" the money intended for concessionary BUS travel...In Greater Manchester, for example, local councillors plundered the funds to extend the scheme to trains and local trams (whereas the government had indicated this shouldn't happen).

The local bus company then appealed against the scheme and won. In response GMPTE has then added insult to injury by dictating increased child fares and publicly through the media blaming these increases on "greedy" bus operators.

In some other areas councils have shamelessly looted bus users funds for all sorts of other purposes.

To be fair, most councils seem to have been fair and upfront (which is sadly more than you can say for the government).

Please bear in mind that the increases in concessionary travel are on some routes, well over 100% against a council estimate of 25-30%...(130% isn't unknown and the numbers are still climbing).

The net result is that the councils are continuously diluting the cash subsidy per traveller on the dubious basis that if extra travel is generated then the bus companies shouldn't benefit from it - there IS no more money they are told so the funds in the coffers are "capped"...can you imagine your corner shop being compelled to give away goods to customers for nothing, then being told that the already inadequate compensation was being reduced still further because the scheme was too successful (or use plumbers or builders or whoever as an analogy if you prefer)..

Most traders or professionals would tell them where to go or fold, but the bus companies don't have this option - they are compelled to take part in the ticket scheme, but denied adequate funds to run it.

Many companies have appealed against the inadequate funding and have won their cases - the "capping" of the schemes has been judged legally to be inappropriate" yet the (independent?) adjudicators appointed by the government haven't ordered anyone to put things right - just said the companies and the councils should "talk together again". These judgements have typically been accompanied by a warning that the appeal results "will not be publicly announced"

So, effectively thousands of pensioners are being carried for nothing, nix, b***** all, while the government and councils come up smelling of roses. Fear that this is going to impact on their pay and conditions is why so many bus drivers are hostile towards pass-holders...

There is worse to come I'm sure but for what it's worth this is the real truth that you won't hear elsewhere...

Scandalous do I hear? I'm NOT really a political animal but...nonetheless would have to say that it's just soviet democracy at work...

Sarah said...

The Scottish passes have chips in them that are read by the drivers' ticket machines. The drivers have to issue a ticket for the destination, for accounting I suppose to invoice the Executive for the use of the buses.

I would guess that the info is recorded somewhere and someone knows who is travelling where.