Greater London, over 66's free transport under threat?

I hope that it doesnt stop the free transport, not only for the individual, but it makes so much sense in a wider way. If you have trustworthy public transport you are more likely to use it , thus keeping more cars and bikes off the roads. Especially in any cities, how much more sense it makes to keep the traffic on the roads down and this allows faster and more efficient transport and less pollution. This surely improves lives for everyone, and less gridlocking etc, also keeps tempers calmer and less likelihood of accidents. In rural areas many people have to keep a car going as there is such poor levels of public transport and often very little or none after 6pm, making assumptions that people dont wish to go out at night. Again they are looking only at the short term savings and not the overall picture.

I don't want to see Londoners lose their free passes, but wish free transport would be rolled out across the country.

I thought it was the underground but only read the headline

The plan is not to stop free passes, but to limit their use to buses only, as in the rest of the county. The current system covers trains and all public transport in the London area and costs well over £300 million a year www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15436229/Pensioners-free-Tube-travel-freebie.html

I didn't realise it was for tubes because they are very expensive. I rarely use them these days but when I do it is to go to Oxford Street to meet GNs for coffee. I wouldn't visit there normally because it is too busy for me nowadays.

I loved having it when we lived in the outer reaches of London and used it often to go to galleries, museums etc. However, part of me thought it was overly generous taking into account what my son and everbody else paid for seasons ticket into London pre Covid, which rose year on year. Frankly fares are shocking and post Covid so are the trains from what I hear.

effecting rail and trams mainly.
its a nice perk to have,not sure if it has restricted hours though

I didn’t know there were trams in London.

Croydon, which used to be Surrey, now swallowed into Greater London has trams.

I don't live anywhere near London, so wasn't going to comment, but it just struck me re the grumble in the O/P about younger people getting passes.

Surely the idea is to keep cars off the road as much as possible so it's a good idea, an incentive?

I think it is also meant to help older people socialise and get to shops and activities.

Yes, it would be better if public transport were free or heavily subsidised for all ages. The current cap on fares is an excellent scheme, and I hope it continues. I would also like to see more investment in slower and less busy routes, so that people living in isolated areas can get around more easily. If every builder putting more then x number of houses on the fringes of towns had to subsidise a shuttle bus to the town centre for 20 years (or whatever seems reasonable) then town centres wouldn't end up given over to car parks, schools wouldn't have parents parking up and creating accident blackspots, and people would be able to get from a to b more easily, which would make employment easier, improve footfall in the centres, and reduce loneliness and poor mental health. The air would be cleaner, and accidents would, presumably, be fewer.

The short-sighted assumption that everyone has access to a car is behind a lot of problems that could easily be solved with a bit of forethought, and investment in public transport.

I turned 66 this week and my bus pass allows free bus travel nationally plus half price off-peak train travel within West Yorkshire. Feeling very lucky as I didn’t expect this train bonus. We have a station in the village which in many ways is more convenient than the bus.

As an ex-Londoner, I was very appreciative of the free travel I had when I lived there. Meant I was able to get our and around, not using a car. When I was looking after my small grandchild we could go 'up west' to see Lights at xmas, and to museums, etc.
Think it is even more important that 'young people' had free travel. When mine were attending 6th form colleges to which they had to take a bus, not sure how I would have managed if they had to pay on these. So many younger Londoners now do not use cars at all, as there is such good public transport and they learn to use that when they are in their teens and it is free for them.
If we really mean to try to cut back on individual car use, throughout the country -then the first stage has to be a really good, trustworthy public transports system, and this has to be either free or very low charges. Yes, that means highly subsidised - but in the long run, that will be so much better for everyone.
Remember the future belongs to the young, not to us. We have had our time

I don't get annoyed about youngsters getting free transport, many have a tougher time than our age demographic. I'm happy for anyone who needs subsided public transport to have it. In an ideal world public transport would be better than it is to encourage more people off the road, unfortunately it has a way to go.

Dh and I use the free public transport (outer London) a lot - I use my car far less than I used so IMO it probably does keep quite a lot cars off the roads.

But at the same time, I often think it unfair that Dh and I (who TBH could afford to pay* get free travel when younger people with children and mortgages - and vastly increased house prices compared with our era - do not.

*Yes, I’m well aware that not all older people can afford to.

We have to pay if travelling on trains and IIRC the tube before 9.30, which is certainly not often.

I was shocked to read that OP was annoyed about young people getting free transport.

When I was young bus fares and most other things were much cheaper. I travelled long distances to schools and colleges which clearly helped me get a good job and pay my taxes.

How does he expect young people to get around otherwise?

I felt the same Witzend when I lived in Greater London, the free trains, great and a massive privilege, but we could have afforded the fares, although I appreciate it's a huge benefit for those that can't which is why I perceived it to be overly generous to some who don't need it. Absolutely youngsters may need it more.

I think it's a good thing for the young age group to access free bus travel across the country. That enables young people starting out to travel to work to contribute towards taxes. Plus when not working enables them to travel socially and spend money in leisure and service industries.

They are at a stage in life they have little amassed or savings and society needs their contribution. Plus it helps establish, hopefully a life long habit of using public travel with the potential to cut down on single passenger car driving over many years.

amassed "wealth"

I would be disappointed to lose the free trains if this happened as I quite often use them. I live too far out to get to central London by bus. The added cost would likely make me travel less often.
There is a separate issue of those age 60 to 65 getting free travel in London. Most special offers for over 60s have increased their age since the pension age increase. I wonder if this is also being looked at.

Also, daytime suburban trains are virtually empty whereas buses are crowded, so it is more sensible to use trains where possible.

RosiesMawagain

^effecting rail and trams mainly^.
its a nice perk to have,not sure if it has restricted hours though

I didn’t know there were trams in London.

tfl.gov.uk/modes/trams/

Living in a rural area, it would be quite nice to even have a bus available free or not!!

Mayor Khan is labour, and like the labour government are against pensioners and taking all they can away from them. You're right youngsters get some free travel. I pay for travel and get annoyed when I pay bus fare and illegal immigrants get on for free!!! I've worked 46 years in the NHS contributing to everything, and no further forward