Bus fares

Our London bus drivers do not take money at all now. You swipe your pass across a machine as you get on - if you don't have a pass you use a bank card. Quicker and safer.

Forgive me for being blunt Kitty but aren't you entitled to your bus passes now? Get 'em, brilliant way of getting around.

kitty I am assuming that it is folk with bus passes who keep the local buses running because those prices are ridiculous.

Well Kitty that's your own problem for being too young for a bus pass!

Here in London at a mere 62 I qualify for 60+ pass so I go free on the bus, tube and many over-ground services.

Do your buses not accept 'contactless' cards, if you don't have cash?

Alima where I am I can't get a bus pass until I receive my pension so 65. I'm pretty sure kitty isn't as old as that.

66 for me, and then it'll just be for the buses. If I lived in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London, Liverpool, Manchester etc, etc, etc, I'd have had free local bus travel two years ago, and often free train travel as well. We end up going into town by car too, as it works out cheaper even though DH got his bus pass when he turned 60. Ah well, just another three and a half years to wait!

Hang on though, Kitty's profile says she's 68! If you don't want yours, Kitty, send it over here, I'll make good use of it.

Like you Kitty and in the same area, DH and I did not have bus passes until a couple of months ago. There was no real need, and isn't now ( as we both have cars and drive), except the move out of the city to a village. When we use them, we sit on the top deck and enjoy the view, particularly into the beautiful gardens of the houses along the way.

I am 68 and a half. I could have had a bus pass when I was 60 but didn't bother as I prefer to use the car. I will get a bus pass now though!!

Our bus pass doesn't entitle us to free train travel.

Same in our area kitty the bus and metro prices are ridiculously expensive for even the shortest of journeys .

Took my DGCs on bus to visit mum in hospital. I have ( and use ) my bus pass but expected to pay £1+ for each child.
Pleasantly surprised to find that our local bus company is charging 20p per child per journey during school holidays!

I was lucky enough to get mine at 60.
I didn't use it much as we still used the car. Now it is invaluable and we can also use it on any train within Greater Manchester which covers a wide area.
We can also trade it in for vouchers for taxis which I think is worth £130's worth of vouchers. I think that is a fantastic benefit.

My bus pass is used almost daily a total boon no idea what I'd do without it I think it's always worth having one even if you're a car driver ( car in garage, not able to drive for some reason or more convienent on occasions maybe parking restrictions )

I think I need to move down the road to Manchester, annsixty.

We are very happy we have our Freedom Passes with all the hospital apps we've had it's saving us a fortune as there is very restricted parking so no point us taking the car. We've used them an awful lot on buses and tube.

If I lived in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London, Liverpool, Manchester etc, etc, etc, I'd have had free local bus travel two years ago

but you wouldn't be able to use your pass in England if it is a Welsh, Scottish or Irish one.

We're all moving to Manchester!

But I wouldn't need to use my pass in England, if I lived in Scotland, Wales, etc...

As long as I could persuade the family to come with us, of course!

DS went to Manchester University. He loved it there. Back to plan A - let's all move to Manchester!

You are all welcome to stay with me to sus out the area.
I can travel miles on my pass.
The train is a particular benefit. Trams also within a large area.
When I was visiting * Rubylady* in hospital I chose to use taxis from the station to the hospital to save my poor legs, otherwise it wouldn't have cost me a penny.

Our bus pass doesn't give us free rail travel we use the bus to go to bigger towns where parking costs a lot . Enjoy going on train but getting expensive . Our bus service is rubbish really old buses and not frequent they have just taken a bus which took us to hospital so we only have one which goes from town every half hour.

but you may want to travel out of Wales or Scotland sometimes ....

There must be some better films on now than the ones we looked at on Wednesday and decided not to go to the cinema after all.

I think the Welsh bus pass allows you to get as far as Chester!