Bus pass discrimination

[Supersuperleeds]

It's compensation for those poor souls that have to live in London, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.






... clearly I am joking.
































It isn't anywhere near the compensation you deserve.

 

[MontyVeda]

Dunno about any other companies but Stagecoach are scamming the free bus pass system... here's what they do.

Before getting a free pass, my dad got the bus to the pub; single fare £2.50, return £2.60... so he'd buy a return.

After being given a free bus pass, he'd be issued a ticket to the bus station (one fare stage beyond the pub); single fare £2.70, they don't offer return tickets to OAPs with free pass so the return fare is irrelevant.
Then he'd get the bus home and be issued another single ticket, always one fare stage beyond where he was going, so that's another £2.70.

So for a return journey that used to cost him £2.60, Stagecoach would be claiming £5.40 from the County Council... £2.80 more than the return ticket should cost. Dad went to the pub 3 times a week, so that's £8.40 a week or around £420.00 a year that Stagecoach were deviously reclaiming for just one OAP using his free bus pass.

 

[Nibor]

I thought you had a bus pass Accy?

 

[Leedsbusdriver]

Dunno about any other companies but Stagecoach are scamming the free bus pass system... here's what they do.

Before getting a free pass, my dad got the bus to the pub; single fare £2.50, return £2.60... so he'd buy a return.

After being given a free bus pass, he'd be issued a ticket to the bus station (one fare stage beyond the pub); single fare £2.70, they don't offer return tickets to OAPs with free pass so the return fare is irrelevant.
Then he'd get the bus home and be issued another single ticket, always one fare stage beyond where he was going, so that's another £2.70.

So for a return journey that used to cost him £2.60, Stagecoach would be claiming £5.40 from the County Council... £2.80 more than the return ticket should cost. Dad went to the pub 3 times a week, so that's £8.40 a week or around £420.00 a year that Stagecoach were deviously reclaiming for just one OAP using his free bus pass.

Not quiet true Montyveda. Bus companies don't get the full fare paid back to them from the local authority when an OAP or disabled pass is used.
Rather they get paid an agreed amount. This is regardless of how long the journey is. I think in Leeds the bus companies get about 80p per free pass journey.

 

[MontyVeda]

Not quiet true Montyveda. Bus companies don't get the full fare paid back to them from the local authority when an OAP or disabled pass is used.
Rather they get paid an agreed amount. This is regardless of how long the journey is. I think in Leeds the bus companies get about 80p per free pass journey.

so why issue a ticket for a slightly longer journey, and why not issue return tickets?

 

[Leedsbusdriver]

First is getting out of the bus business, having already sold Greyhound.
Arrival is trying to sell/dispose of it's UK public transport services.

First tried to sell their UK operations, but there were no buyers. So First have committed to stay in the bus market for the foreseeable future. Trust me I have seen the video message from the MD.

 

[Leedsbusdriver]

so why issue a ticket for a slightly longer journey, and why not issue return tickets?

It's all about fare stages. Your dad's destination maybe after one fare stage, but before the next one. Not every bus stop is a fare stage. So it's normal to charge to the furthest stage rather than the nearest. That's how it works I'm afraid.

 

[MontyVeda]

It's all about fare stages. Your dad's destination maybe after one fare stage, but before the next one. Not every bus stop is a fare stage. So it's normal to charge to the furthest stage rather than the nearest. That's how it works I'm afraid.

yeah we understand fare stages (re-read my post)... the pub bus-stop was one fare stage, the bus station is another. There was something fishy going on.

 

[stephec]

The two may be linked. Local transport provision here is through the local authority, although the actual provider may be a private company. As a result the C-19 related disruption was minimal and short lived.

This may be connected to a different perception by the general populace that public transport is worth paying for, or it may be that the perception is the same but the decisions are made more locally here, so politicians are more in tune with this thinking.
Other factors could be that people in Germany tend to live in apartments or more compact suburbs so it is easier to provide public transport, and that transport provision is connected to property taxation, so the better the provision, the higher the tax: a tramline, for example, is financed by increased taxation on the properties within a certain distance of the route, and landlords can recoup this, and (to some degree) make more money by increasing rents.

@Blue Hills this is the kind of thing I was meaning, I probably should have quoted a post up thread to make it clearer.

For want of a better description, public transport is seen as more acceptable by the public on the continent than in the UK, hence a bus company is more inclined to operate there instead of here.

 

[classic33]

The two may be linked. Local transport provision here is through the local authority, although the actual provider may be a private company. As a result the C-19 related disruption was minimal and short lived.

This may be connected to a different perception by the general populace that public transport is worth paying for, or it may be that the perception is the same but the decisions are made more locally here, so politicians are more in tune with this thinking.
Other factors could be that people in Germany tend to live in apartments or more compact suburbs so it is easier to provide public transport, and that transport provision is connected to property taxation, so the better the provision, the higher the tax: a tramline, for example, is financed by increased taxation on the properties within a certain distance of the route, and landlords can recoup this, and (to some degree) make more money by increasing rents.

Locally, the buses are still limited to less than half a load. Double what they were allowed to carry when travel was first restricted.

In an effort to help with the shops having early opening for key workers and the elderly, they allowed the use of the passes before 9:30am. Later stopped when shopping restrictions were eased.
At the start, the limit was 9-10(seating dependent) on a single decker. Strange to see.

One smaller company went to the wall. Due in the main to the type and size of vehicles they used. Two, possibly three passengers maximum.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I’m in my 50s and can’t get a bus pass in any of the areas. Defo discrimination 🤔🙃😂

 

[Blue Hills]

@Blue Hills this is the kind of thing I was meaning, I probably should have quoted a post up thread to make it clearer.

For want of a better description, public transport is seen as more acceptable by the public on the continent than in the UK, hence a bus company is more inclined to operate there instead of here.

bit of a generalisation I fear stephec? - the whole of the continent/europe? From what I know of Italy, many Italians wouldn't be seen dead on a bus - car-addicted, drive ludicrously short distances, many cities clogged with cars for no great reason, rampant double and generally anti social parking. The head of transport in one Italian city I know, which actually has a pretty decent bus service, felt the need to point out that it wasn't in the italian constitution that folks had the inalienable right to park right outside the door of where they were going.

Last thing I knew as well, a major function of the Rome bus system, along with so many public service bodies in that city, was as a corruption fund.

 

[srw]

public transport is seen as more acceptable by the public on the continent than in the UK,

I suggest you pay a visit to the South East if England where everyone uses it. As we're seeing at the moment, without public transport London can't operate.

 

[swee'pea99]

I suggest you pay a visit to the South East if England where everyone uses it. As we're seeing at the moment, without public transport London can't operate.

We Londoners love our buses. We really do. Even those of us who rarely use them.

They're frequent, clean, and driven by polite, friendly, helpful people. And the passes are as good as anywhere in the UK, and better than most. They even have good ideas - like earlier this year when they announced a new policy whereby you could take two bus rides for the price of one, so long as the second began within an hour of the first. Halves the cost of going into town for many people.

Not earth-shattering, but a fairly representative example of what happens when you have a local authority that actually believes in public transport - and 'socialist-type stuff' generally. Which is to say services focused on helping the many rather than enriching a few.

 

[Blue Hills]

They even have good ideas - like earlier this year when they announced a new policy whereby you could take two bus rides for the price of one, so long as the second began within an hour of the first. Halves the cost of going into town for many people.

Yes it is good - makes a big difference.
As I understand it you can now take any number of buses within an hour - you just have to board the last one within the hour.