Why can I have a bus pass that allows me free transport, but I have to buy a railcard , still have to pay ?

Question

Why can I have a bus pass that allows me free transport, but I have to buy a railcard , still have to pay ?

Answer 1

someone had to pay for that bus pass too..

Answer 2

I believe free rail travel is coming soon for pensioners.  I will google it.

Answer 3

There is no logic to it. The fact that subsidies are being withdraw from the railways is not an answer for the bus system is privatised and relies on subsidies (but from local, rather than national, government). Notwithstanding this, the government announced a while ago that with effect from 1 April a pensioner's bus pass will be valid throughout England - ones issued in Wales have long given countrywide travel. Currently where I live in Sussex, the passes are issued by the Borough Council but valid throughout both East and West Sussex and in the City of Brighton. I don't foresee any free train travel in the near future, despite the optimism of one answer. You have to do quite a bit of travel by train to make a Senior Citizen's Railcard worthwhile - allowing for the cost. My wife and I had to travel by train from the north-east to Sussex before we moved here and I worked out that spending nearly £50 on railcards for each of us for that journey wasn't worthwhile.

Answer 4

Well, it certainly depends on WHERE you're riding:  what the TRANSIT District does !!

I'm not familiar with the UK rail system, though I keep hearing complaints here !! <hahaha>

In San Diego, California (a county bigger than some US STATES)... the entire transit system operates under ONE authority, so your bus-pass is a transfer on the trolley as well.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, we're screwed as EACH county as a different system, BUT CALTRAIN and BART cover multiple counties...

It's a matter of the system and the subsidies...

Answer 5

because buses and trains are different?????? Maybe ummm

Answer 6

Because your Bus Pass is not free, you are paying for it out of Council Tax Money, if your not paying Council Tax then everyone is paying for you!

Most Railcards do have to be paid for and I resent seeing people who are scoungers and loafers with New Deal, Freedom Passes who think they can travel around the Network for free!!

Don't get Me wrong if you are Retired and have paid all your life for the free pass then no problem as long as you realise that there are still people who work all day and are entitled to sit as well as you.

Answer 7

Your bus pass is financed by the council tax payers of your borough.  The railcard is issued by the Association of Train Operating Companies.  The train operating companies are not charities and thus make quite a modest charge for the Railcard.

You dont, of course, have to have a railcard, and as one of the previous suggests, you might calculate whether your likely annual fares are likely to exceed £72 pounds.  If they they are you will save money if you purchase a railcard.

On another matter, I dont understand why people feel they have a right to free transport?  Of course it isnt free, it's just that someone else is paying for it.

Answer 8

bus passes are usually issued by the local authority

railcards are by Network Rail

so the bus pass budget is under the direct control of the local authority, whereas the rail card is effectively a discount card issued by the railways. its down to the local authority to decide how they allocate their budgets

In some local authority areas I think you can also get a railcard either free or eben more reduced.

Answer 9

yeah and how come I can't take a free cruise to the Seychelles? Some people are just never satisfied i guess.

Answer 10

Buses run half empty. Trains are running packed full now they have been privatised.

Answer 11

The age of subsidy for rail is over; the government requires that the cost of operating and profit for the operating companies comes from fares collected; Despite all the moans and groans expressed in the media Britain has one of the densest and most frequent networks in the world and your Senior Citizens Railcard which costs you £24 per year gives you one third of the cost of all your journeys (except before 09-30am on weekdays). By booking longer Inter City

trips in advance you can get very cheap deals indeed. Other sections of the population are reminded other railcards exist too: Young Persons for full time students, Family, and Network Card (for travel in southern England - any age).