| Bus Pass U-turn?p
08 May 2008 |
As announced in today's Northern Echo, Council Leader John Williams has finally agreed that pensioners should not be expected to pay full price fares to travel on the buses in Darlington before 9.30am.
He has agreed to "talk" to bus company Arriva in an attempt to negotiate a reduced price for early morning concessionary users. Although this is obviously a positive step forward (especially considering Cllr Williams has already said previously he wouldn?t revisit this issue), it is still far from satisfactory.
Pensioners in all of the other Local Authorities in the North East can travel at any time for no charge on the regions buses. Darlington is the only Town in the North East to charge pensioners to use the buses before to 9.30am.
In an attempt to justify the scrapping of free early morning bus travel for pensioners, Cllr Williams has suggested that financial savings can be made by scrapping free pre-9.30am travel for pensioners. In the same Northern Echo article Williams also claims that pensioners affected ?have the option of travelling after 9.30?. You don?t have to be a mathematician to calculate that this situation obviously results in no savings!
Related links:-
Bus Pass update
Bus Pass scrapping affects charities
Council Leader John Williams says "No"!
Petition to save early bus passes
Gill's Blog regarding Bus Pass fiasco - Email the Prime Minister!
|
__________________________________________________________ |
|
