Lord Bracknell
On fire
The travel concession for senior citizens in Amsterdam isn't free travel. It's a 34 per cent discount on standard adult fares. I don't think British citizenship is a barrier to qualification for this concession.
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Equal rights for old English people! (Non Londoners)
- Thread starter Brovion
- Start date
The travel concession for senior citizens in Amsterdam isn't free travel. It's a 34 per cent discount on standard adult fares. I don't think British citizenship is a barrier to qualification for this concession.
Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
Lord/B as it stands for every passenger using a Pass say in B and H the council have to pay the operator,however what the council does not have to do (apart from school buses) is provide a subsidy to any operator who says wants to run a service Brighton to HH.
- Thread starter
- #43
So it isn't a national policy then, unlike say motorway speed limits or indeed the qualifying age for the state pension. As you say it's devolved. Which leads me on to ...
Yes I have complained. Brighton Council (the political hue doesn't matter) built a private company a private road network. As we know from the railways the Go-Ahead Group aren't the slightest bit interested in providing transport solutions - they exist to make a profit for their shareholders. Brighton Council have done NOTHING to protect the interests of Brighton residents or visitors. Every time the bus company jack up the unregulated fares they just shrug their shoulders and say "Nothing we can do". More progressive and caring councils (such as Bradford) provide cheap or free buses - although I believe Bradford have now started charging a flat £1 fee (which is still a lot less than we pay).
The fact I'm pissed off by Go-Ahead's blatant profiteering and our compliant, spineless, dont-give-a-shit council doesn't mean I don't know the difference between local and nationally-controlled policies.
- Thread starter
- #44
Thanks! Much appreciated!
Paid for by all those English taxpayers.......
pearl
Well-known member
so can I because I pay council tax here
Lord Bracknell
On fire
It's a matter for local discretion if a council wishes to subsidise a bus service that no bus company will provide without subsidy. If the council does choose to fund such a service, there is an obligation to invite tenders from a range of operators. In the current climate of strict central government control of local authority spending, there are few councils that can afford to fund extra bus services. This wasn't the case until Austerity came along.
Lord Bracknell
On fire
Most of the funding for bus lanes came from a central government grant that Brighton & Hove City Council were successful in bidding for.
If the grant hadn't come to Brighton, it would have been spent on bus schemes somewhere else.
The fact that the bus company benefits from the operational efficiency improvements that bus lanes bring is one of the reasons that B&H Buses have been able to improve the frequency of services, increase patronage (unlike almost every other city in Britain, outside London) and run unsubsidized night buses. These improvements form part of a partnership agreement between the council and the bus company that wouldn't be in place if the bus lanes hadn't been built.
The rules about bus partnership agreements currently exclude the possibility that fares might be reduced through such an agreement. These rules regularly get reviewed, but change is constantly being resisted by some councils and some bus companies.
I thought I would be dead before BHA reached the Premier League. Unfortunately for most of you it didn't happen that way but most can still be happy about it. Sometimes you got to wait for your rewards and sometimes you don't.
The problems that come with marrying a younger woman can be exhausting.
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
I paid in for 45 years, so I think I'm entitled to it now. Since I turned 60, I have developed thyroid problems, so I would have had all my medication free no matter my age.
Brighton Mod
Its All Too Beautiful
Get on the phone to that caring woman Caroline, oh sorry she doesn't come from Brighton like most of her supporters. Unlucky, you better hope you live another six years and just suck it up in the meantime. At least the recyclings sorted out in Brighton, or is it?
Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
State pensionable age here so it will be sixty ******ing seven.
I could be dead before then.
There again, there won't be any buses left by that time.
I could be dead before then.
There again, there won't be any buses left by that time.
Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
Bus lanes are great big con. All they do is clog up every other lane, because nobody can get past the damn things driving at a steady 20mph and stopping every 100 yards, so everyone has to use the outside lane. And as for taxis....
The Large One
Who's Next?
What an irrelevant post; it doesn't cover any of his whining.
Whining, incidentally, which has now been established is totally at the wrong people.
The Large One
Who's Next?
Bus lanes are great big con. All they do is clog up every other lane, because nobody can get past the damn things driving at a steady 20mph and stopping every 100 yards, so everyone has to use the outside lane. And as for taxis....
No they're not.
It's cars driving in non-car thoroughfares that clog up the streets. Southbound London Road, for example.
- Thread starter
- #56
I'm aware of most of that, it doesn't invalidate my point though - and it certainly doesn't invalidate my original point that English people outside London are treated worse than they are in the rest of the UK.
There is one point I wasn't aware of though - I didn't know that bus patronage was really only increasing in Brighton and London. Given the ever-increasing population I'm surprised at that - but with that being the case I'd have thought that GoAhead might have wanted to give something back to the city. That's a silly idealistic thought of course: they're a capitalist organisation, and all the while they've got a nice captive affluent market they're going to milk it for as much as they can.
- Thread starter
- #57
Eh? Hope you don't mean my whining, which we've established is at the RIGHT people. See Lord Bracknell's posts.
The Large One
Who's Next?
It doesn't invalidate your general whinging, but it does invalidate the original target of your whinging, whom you presumed, without bothering to find out, was specifically Brighton & Hove City Council.
I didn't know for sure, but it took me 20 seconds to find the answer - 15 of which because I have a bit of sluggish computer.
No, you said 'In Brighton, it's 66..." By inference, that means Brighton & Hove City Council. What you really meant was 'the UK government'.
Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
You clearly have never suffered the Runcorn bridge at rush hour - one bus lane completely empty (except for aforesaid b*st**d taxis), only other lane backed up in a three mile queue - every day!!!!!!
portslade seagull
Well-known member
Don't see many cyclists to tell the truth, most lanes seem to be empty. Mind you most still seem to ride on the pavement even when there is a cycle lane just inches to the side