Free Travel (Freedom Pass) Over 60's Suspended

[malumbu]

Pension arrangements in the civil service were changed several years ago moving to a career average pension and the national retirement age. Older workers retained some or all rights, less old had some transition arrangement, oddly shown to be illegal following a challenge by the Fire Brigades Union. https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2019/12/18/firefighters-win-back-pensions-blow-government (The 50/55 retirement age mentioned is just for fire fighters)

Many went in the purges under the coalition government as numbers were drastically cut. So often a case that a civil servant over 50 could not necessarily afford to retire, but when offered a severance deal....

These compensation arrangements were pared in part due to a populist Daily Mail type campaign. Gold plated pensions were all for those starting pre-87 (they were the oft quoted figures in the Mail/Express)so had largely gone by the time of the coalition.

Of course civil servants used to look jealously at the police and NHS pensions, so everything in relative. And working alongside people in heavy engineering when that went through the floor in the early 90s, boy did they get some good deals.

Sadly the world is now very different.

[Bic Basher]

A couple of points:

TfL will inform passengers when the Freedom Pass is restricted. It isn't yet, so can still be used as now during the morning peak on TfL modes only (Buses, London Overground, tube, DLR and TfL Rail), then on National Rail services from 0930.

There's legislation in place where TfL can't ban evening peak travel with the pass. This would lead to otherwise pensioners outside London would be allowed to ride buses while locals would pay fares.

The Freedom Pass offers more to London pensioners than those outside London where passes are restricted to 0930-2300 on weekdays, some councils offer discounted or free rail travel within their local area, but otherwise it's a poorer deal than we get.

[seenbeen]

Official notice from TfL -as from June 15th Freedom Passes and 60+ passes cannot be used on TfL from 0430 to 0900

[DulwichFox]

How can the Elderly who have Freedom Passes travel during those times..

I.E. Hospital appointments and the like.

Can they Pay and if so How ??

You cannot pay cash on the bus.

DulwichFox

[seenbeen]

There are suggestions like using an Oyster card etc

https://www.london.gov.uk/coronavirus/coronavirus-covid-19-faqs/what-are-new-rules-60-oyster-card-and-freedom-pass-and-why-are-you-making-these-changes

Disabled passes are exempt which is something I suppose

[ianr]

DulwichFox wrote:

> Can they Pay and if so How ??

>

> You cannot pay cash on the bus.

>

Pretending you're a visitor to london seems to provide the most explicit information: https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/getting-around-london/best-ways-for-visitors-to-pay.

[Bic Basher]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> How can the Elderly who have Freedom Passes travel

> during those times..

>

> I.E. Hospital appointments and the like.

>

> Can they Pay and if so How ??

>

> You cannot pay cash on the bus.

>

> DulwichFox

Contactless payment using a card or phone would be the easiest way.

[sally buying]

Has any thought been given to the fact older people do not have all this kit.

Perhaps a little thought might be in order.

[Sue]

Can't see a thread relating to the under eighteen travel issue, so posting this here.

It's a petition asking the government to save the under-eighteens bus pass:

https://action.labour.org.uk/page/s/keep-free-travel

[Bic Basher]

The free bus passes for children was a Red Ken pledge which was kept by Boris surprisingly and then Sadiq until the cuts were imposed by the government.

Local authorities are required by law to provide free travel to school age children for up to three miles from home to school, which will put another dent into Southwark's budget which will replace the current TfL funded passes.

[singalto]

Most children haven?t been going to school..

[seenbeen]

The under 18s bus pass has drawbacks.

I have seen them jumping on buses to go 1 or 2 stops.

There is NO encouragement to go to school locally

Travelling a long way to go to school is miserable

[JBurgessXXX]

I don't know what to say. It can be or not very well thought through. Moreover, buses are very important for travelers, schoolers, and people who go to work, etc. If I would be a pensioner traveler and I couldn't go with the busses, it would be bad. I was in many countries and each of them makes good conditions for traveling but we not. If you are curious about how many countries are in the world you can read the https://thesabbaticalguide.com/how-many-countries-are-there-to-visit/. There is written all about the country which you want to visit.

[womanofdulwich]

I thought the free school travel was if the school was not within walking distance? Like 2-3 miles? We used to cycle that far to school when I lived in the countryside (a while ago...).