I confess. I feel guilty about using my bus pass.
There are two main reasons.
Firstly, because I am more than 60 years old but I do have a full-time job, which pays an above-average salary, and suffer from no disability except incurable commitment to local newspapers.
Secondly, because our dear old district council has to subsidise my free bus journeys while it cuts staff to balance the books.
The Government requires district councils to pay for the concessionary bus fares but does not pay the full cost.Sedgemoor told me it spent £1,285,000 on this popular scheme in the past year but Mendip would not reveal know how much taxpayers’ money it spent without me filling in a formal Freedom of Information form, saying they may not reply for a month.
The principle of giving free bus travel to pensioners who have paid taxes all their working lives but are no longer flush is laudable. It also reduces road congestion and carbon emissions.
However, because the retirement age for women is still 60, men have to get the concession at the same time even if they are in full-time work.So inequality is built into the system, but it has led me and many others to leave the car at home and travel by public transport.
Mind, I did get my wallet pickpocketed on a bus in London. That is not a risk in the car, at least not with my wife or children.
Philip Welch
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1 comment:
Use the bloody bus pass Philip.
You will help save the planet or at the very least lower your own carbon footprint by quite a lot and not to mention meeting interesting and scary fellow travellers.
I think in time the government will ban over 60's driving so use it before the rush. ;)
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