End of free travel before 9.30am in Ipswich

Suffolk County Council have decided to save themselves £50,000 a year by making pensioners and free pass holders pay full fare before 9.30am. Suffolk is one of the very few places where pensioners and free pass holders can travel all day from dawn to dusk without paying. Now to save money this new curfew is to be introduced.

All I can say is: HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

This is just the tip of the iceberg. £50k a year? More like at least double that. That will really piss off the old goats. Go Ipswich council! Common sense is coming to town

You can use your pass at any time of day here in Wales

Although I just read one of the things you can't use them on is Trawscambria services, yet they accept them on mine... I don't get it

I would would make it 9am, but it does make since as it free up the buses for Commuters!

Big changes are on the cards for both Wales and Scotland, as rumours are that they are £26 million at least short in Scotland alone for the OAP travel. Whoops!

Bristol LH wrote:This is just the tip of the iceberg. £50k a year? More like at least double that. That will really piss off the old goats. Go Ipswich council! Common sense is coming to town

Well they are only talking about the couple of hours before 9.30am. I would imagine they could save even more money if they made the free pass holders pay all day long!!

It is time that one of the big groups had the balls to take on the government & say NO to the free passes. If they did, every op would follow suit. And legally, there would be frig all the government could do.

North Yorkshire County Council say they can save £400,000 by revising the times from 9am start.

They are proposing from April 2011 that so called free passes can only be used between 9:30am and 11pm.

At the moment there are areas of the County that have no restrictions at all, Hambleton for instance. This is due to end.

Good.

I personally would also like to see a reintroduction of an afternoon peak travel period, say 1600hrs - 1800hrs, where pass holders would have to pay at least half fare.

Blakey, here in WY it was 1500-1800, which meant it got the fossils out of the way at school time too. Good old Metro decided to axe it a few years back. What dumb-ass sods!

And £400k a year is a stupid amount of wedge when you look at it.

Bristol LH wrote:It is time that one of the big groups had the balls to take on the government & say NO to the free passes. If they did, every op would follow suit. And legally, there would be frig all the government could do.

Totally agree with you there,every body else has had 2 suffer cuts so why not the conc card holders.

The only council in Scotland which had free travel for oap was FIFE, it run successful for 20 years!

Half fare BEFORE 9am:
FREE TRAVEL; 09am - 15.30( this included buses leaving at 15.30)
Half fare 15.31 - 1759:
Free again.

There was never any problems and it never costs alot

Bristol LH wrote:Blakey, here in WY it was 1500-1800, which meant it got the fossils out of the way at school time too. Good old Metro decided to axe it a few years back. What dumb-ass sods!

I remember it well.

Dragging your feet at 1458 so you knew it'd be 1500 at the next stop ;o)

I'm just hoping that WY Metro fall into line with NYCC and have the 2300hrs cut off. It really irks me the amount of pensioners use their free passes to go on the piss. Not what concessionary travel was introduced for by a short sighted out of touch Government.

An afternoon Peak Period between 1600 - 1800 would solve a lot of the overcrowding problems we suffer coming out of Leeds on 36 and 770.

Bristol LH wrote:Big changes are on the cards for both Wales and Scotland, as rumours are that they are £26 million at least short in Scotland alone for the OAP travel. Whoops!

Problem with the scheme in scotland is its abused, as they give out passes to junkies alkies and degenerates and they give them companion cards too, or if you want get one at the barras for £40 to use on the trains

I had some old biddy today asking what pensioners were going to do if they had early appointments at the hospital. My blunt and to the point answer was "Well they'll have to pay like everyone else!!" Don't think that went down to well though!

Daisy Dart wrote:I had some old biddy today asking what pensioners were going to do if they had early appointments at the hospital. My blunt and to the point answer was "Well they'll have to pay like everyone else!!" Don't think that went down to well though!

Why not have a later appointment,

Maybe the hospital should give non oap morning one etc

No.....Give em all early morning ones to make them pay....It is time they coughed up for their fares again

peanutbutter wrote:

Daisy Dart wrote:I had some old biddy today asking what pensioners were going to do if they had early appointments at the hospital. My blunt and to the point answer was "Well they'll have to pay like everyone else!!" Don't think that went down to well though!

Why not have a later appointment,

Maybe the hospital should give non oap morning one etc

I suppose she didn't think of that. Mind you with hospital appointments you have to take what they give or wait another 6 months for another appointment!!!