Report to the People
All Aboard
Travel, they say, broadens the mind.
OK, a round trip to the Council Tax office might not be in the same league as an African safari, but the freedom to travel – to get out of the house and go visiting, or shopping, or to see the sights – does keep you active. And keeping active, of course, is key to a longer and healthier old age.
So, to encourage pensioners to break free from the shopping channel, the Scottish Parliament is making it easier for our older citizens to get out and about. As you’ll probably be aware, starting today, elderly people in Greenock and Inverclyde will be entitled to free bus travel throughout Strathclyde.
But what does this actually mean? To what, exactly, are you now entitled?
Put simply, as of today, every off-peak bus journey a pensioner takes within the scheme area won’t cost them a penny.
The "scheme area" covers everywhere inside and roughly ten miles beyond the old Strathclyde Regional Council boundary. This means you can, for example, visit a museum in Glasgow, or get a good dose of sea air at Troon or Turnberry.
An "off-peak" journey is one taken at any time after 9am on weekdays, or at any time over the weekend or on national public holidays.
At the moment, the qualifying age is pensionable age – in other words 60 for women and 65 for men. This, though, will be equalised at 60 next April.
So what do you need to do now? Very little, I’m glad to say. Indeed, if you already hold a travel card, you don’t have to do anything. Your old card will continue to be valid. If you do not currently have a travel card, but think you qualify for one, applying is simple. Just go to the Post Office with proof of your age, proof of your address and a passport-type photograph.
Like free personal care and free central heating, I’m not quite ready to benefit from free bus travel. (Honest.) But I’m sure (if for no other reason than you can pack your mother in law off to Ballachulish for nothing), most people of my generation would regard this scheme as money well spent.
It will give our parents and their friends more mobility and more freedom. Not just to carry out the daily routine, but also to relax a bit more. After all, they’ve earned it.
For your full, straightforward guide to the Free Bus Travel scheme – including details on the scheme for disabled people – call my office on 791 820.
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