Cashy, I met some people from the highlands when I was in Lytham with Ma.....they had bus passes but could not use them down here. I think it is same for the welsh too.
Yes Neil, You should be able to use them all over the UK....and the rules about what travel is covered should be the same.
In Manchester metropolitan Borough, the residents can use their cards on the trams.....but non residnets cannot.
You used to be able to use your bus pass on the Blackpool trams, but now you cannot(not sure if this rule applies to the residents of the Fylde).
Personally, I would prefer to pay a flat fare and be allowed to use all forms of transport.
In Melboure...you buy a train ticket to the city and it allows you free travel on the buses right up to the zone where you bought your train ticket...so you could travel into the city by train and (as long as the ticket was a return) travel home by bus.
Other countries seem to have affordable transport costs...so I don't get why we can't follow their models and have the same ability to travel.
I get really P'd off when people(some bus drivers are the biggest culprits) look at us OAPerishers and think we are getting free travel. I pay for my travel through taxes...both local and national.
There arfe issues about loneliness in the elderly...well, if you can get out and about at a reasonable cost there is a good chance you will meet, speak to and socialise with others like yourself.
Getting out and about also ensures that you move, you are active..... you walk......and this has a positive impact on fitness/heart health/lowering of blood pressure/prevention of obesity.
Walking also means that you are less likely to suffer from bone thinning and spend time in a hospital bed with a hip fracture.
those who get the bus for a day out will often spend some money at their destination(ok,it might only be for a cup of tea and a sandwich)so it boosts the economy of where ever they have gone.
Recently a bus driver told me that he 'would be glad when the bl**dy government got rid of the bus passes - he didn't want his bus full of old and wrinklies' or words to that effect.
I dropped a few short sharp words in his ear. He apologised to me at the end of my journey...but by then it was too late I had already composed the e-mail to the bus company.....Wi-fi on buses can be a godsend.
