Bus pass time!

Bus companies charge the council that the bus pass user lives in for the average cost of the journey undertaken.

I'm not aware of a fee for issuing the bus pass.

Apparantly, a third of all bus journeys are undertaken by people with bus passes.

People in London get the most from their equivalent to a bus pass (it's called a freedom pass, or similar). They get to use buses, commuter trains, underground and overground trains.

Well , just think, if you are a taxpayer you are subsidising the use of passes, so use them and enjoy them while they are around.

Never thought of applying for one.  To be honest I can't remember the last time I went on a bus - I just find the car too convenient.  I've used the train though.  Now if we had a free train pass......

David 

I'm looking forward to my free TV licence next year, that will be a good saving too.

I'm looking forward to my free TV licence next year, that will be a good saving too.

Bus Passes are a wonderful thing that give older people of all incomes freedom to get out and about. Free TV licences I just don't understand, there is no logic to them. Most people currently retired will have been paying for them for at least 10 years before they become free so what happens when they are 75 that requires them to get them free. I could understand free licences for people with sight impairment but struggle to see the logic for the majority. The responsibility for free licences is now with the BBC so it will be interesting to see how long they last.

David

We have bus passes, ours are for Wales only yet we very rarely use them  , we travel in England most of the time and there not valued there , when you can use your English passes from lands end to up to the Scottish Borders, as for t v licience's I to wonder how long the Beeb will keep it up 

Pension Credit is a top up to the regular State Pension for those whose income fall below a certain level, so in effect the poorest pensioners. 

David

It always annoys me that whenever 'benefits' of any kind are mentioned, it is always stated that they depend on INCOME 

In fact your income can be very small, but if you have been prudent enough to build up even quite modest cash savings, then you will find you are debarred from practically all 'benefits'. If however you have spent the cash on an expensive car/caravan/yacht/whatever  .....oh that's OK, you can claim!

The 'cut off' for many 'income related' benefits is £16,000 of savings - more than that and you don't get anything and less than that (down to about £6,000) the amount you have reduces your benefits.

It's a bit different for pension credit.

When you say that some people simply spend all their savings in order to get benefits, that doesn't always work. The DWP / HMRC see this as 'deprivation of capital'. If they believe that you've deliberately deprived yourself of capital to gain benefits, they can treat you as though you still have that capital.

The age for a bus pass (for me anyway) has gone up from 60 to 66

 

yep, 20 plus years before I can claim mine, unless they have gone by then!

I would put as much as 10p (i'm not a gambler) on them being history by then H.