don't have a problem with under 16's having free bus travel,BUT

Phones are needed to engage with the dwp, who are closing any loopholes for cash in hand work.

If its strictly judged on the amount coming into a person's home, then pensioners should perhaps have their free bus passes revoked.

I'm sure that would be popular.
For goodness sake, allow people a concession or two. .giving them less won't mean someone else will be given more.

It makes me cross that people can't allow others to "get more" than they do.

If I win the lottery (I won't; I don't do it) I'd provides fleets of buses to take people out and about.

"If I win the lottery (I won't; I don't do it)"

Me neither but we can dream!

You do know there are no paper rounds or milkmen to help anymore? Why do you begrudge a 17 year old having a a bus pass so they can look for a job or get to college? I mean you could say the same about pensioners, they can afford their own bus fares and have far more money than a 17 year old so why do they need free bus passes?

I had a full bus pass because I live over 3 miles from school. A neighbour had a half pass because she did not.

She could use hers up to 18 to get half fare, but mine would not work that way, even though it proved I was still at school.

It was a different world when I was a teenager in 1960s.
We all had Saturday and holiday jobs.
At 15, I worked in a Department Store's invoice office every Saturday morning - sending bills in handwritten envelopes.

In the Summer holidays I worked at our local hospital's children's ward. I had a uniform and was called an auxiliary.
I dressed sores, emptied bedpans, read stories, tidied beds, changed sheets, fed and washed children, accompanied injured kids to X-ray etc.
I needed no special qualifications and was paid a few pounds a week.

Gosh, a Saturday job, that takes me back.
Am all for free bus passes given to youngsters.
Why not up to 18?

The more people with free public transport the better, in my view. There are so many benefits of getting cars off the road, and if more people used the buses, there’d be more of them, it’s supply and demand. I love my bus pass, and would never begrudge anyone else getting one. As for keeping safe, I’ve never felt more than a bit uneasy on a bus or train but have passed many a road accident in our car, and know three people who’ve been involved in awful road rage incidents. one as a woman in her 20s driving alone.

We do still have papers and milk delivered round here, and use the services ourselves (again, supply and demand applies - use it or lose it). The papers seem to be delivered by retired folk. I wouldn’t know who brings the milk as it arrived at about 5am.

Quite agree with you about getting more people on to public transport, Maggiemaybe, and that it should be free too. Also about the relative safety of buses and trains compared with cars.

Those who say that some people are too well off to deserve a free bus pass should realise that if you have that much income, you are paying it back in tax and it's worth having the pass for the convenience.

Retreats behind sofa, wearing tin hat.

monami

I ave just had £7.65 a week pension credit taken off me because I inherited a few pounds which took my old age pension over the limit, yet they want to give over 16s with every gadget invented free bus fares, mad bad times we live in

Being bitter will eat you up. There are hundreds of thousands of 16 year olds in poverty.

Basgetti

monami

I ave just had £7.65 a week pension credit taken off me because I inherited a few pounds which took my old age pension over the limit, yet they want to give over 16s with every gadget invented free bus fares, mad bad times we live in

Being bitter will eat you up. There are hundreds of thousands of 16 year olds in poverty.

There are hundreds of thousands of 16 year olds in poverty.

And they don't all have "every gadget invented" either...

My teenage grandsons were both given hand-me-down mobile phones... one has my old iPhone7 and is quite happy with it.

monami

I'm 84 but remember as a teenager being very interested in the limited gadgetry that was available then.

Let's stop hammering young people. Years of Austerity, not to mention the shrinking of the State which afforded me free tertiary education, Luncheon Vouchers, day-release from work to attend college - among other things - has changed the world we live in, and youngsters face challenges that some of us did not have to deal with.

Hear, hear, Do corns. They’re still recovering from the emotional effects of Covid, too. What children and young people - the least at risk - did for their older countrymen and women was remarkable and they have never been properly thanked for it, nor the long-term effects on their emotional development acknowledged.

Do corns?! Dickens. Weird auto correct 😁

And if there's no bus service....?

Basgetti

Do corns?! Dickens. Weird auto correct 😁

I'm constantly puzzled by the random choices auto-correct makes...

For going to school yes good idea, not in general though,just my opinion

Shell951, they, like some of us, go out with friends to the cinema (for example), or work in the evenings as some of my DGC have done while still at school, and do things at weekends. Bus passes can give them freedom without having to rely on parents to drive them, and without them being tempted to drive or, worse, be driven by an inexperienced friend. We all know what can happen to a carful of young people when the driver is distracted or even trying to show off.

infoman

I do not think the over 16's should have free bus transport. A lot of us use too have paper rounds,helping the milk person working in food outlets in the past.So I think that over 16's could afford their bus fares

Not relevant in today’s world.
Very few newspapers delivered.
Very little milk delivered.
Yes, there are jobs in food outlets, supermarkets, cafés etc. if you can get them, and even with deductions and bus fare it’s better than nothing but first get the job. Many young adults over 18 are also desperately queueing for those jobs.

In 1968 my Saturday job paid 12/6, around £13 today. Today’s minimum wage for under 18s is £8 per hour, so I would be collecting £64 for my day in the draper’s shop!

it was a different world for a teenager in the 60s
Certainly was. I started my apprenticeship in the printing trade 2 weeks after I was 15.
40hr week and no excuses for not doing Saturday morning overtime. But I loved it 🥰

Left school at 15 and went for 3 interviews for office junior. I was successful at all 3 and chose a building society as it was the highest wage. I left there and worked as a waitress earning much more money in tips and getting free meals, as I'd rented a bedsit at 16 and had left home. Getting a job was very easy then. People were crying out for staff in the early 70s. Now it's much more difficult due to higher wages and regulations for employers to follow.

Well, for those who think passes should only be used for educational reasons, I'd suggest their own bus passes be used for one shopping trip per week, obviously to their nearest shop only.

I completely disagree and think young people, in education or training, should have free bus fares til their education is complete.

Part time jobs for those aged between 15-18 are very scarce these days.

My husbands friend lives in Hackney, he’s about 68, he gets FREE travel on all buses and trains!

I’m all for free travel on public transport.

Me too.
For all and sundry.
If it gets people out and about, keeps them mobile, and it contact with others, it can only be a good thing.

monami

I ave just had £7.65 a week pension credit taken off me because I inherited a few pounds which took my old age pension over the limit, yet they want to give over 16s with every gadget invented free bus fares, mad bad times we live in

Well, presumably, you can spend your 'few pounds' of inheritance however you wish (a few gadgets maybe?), then be eligible to pension credit again, can't you?

Doesn't sound too bad to me, and certainly not something to use against young people..