Whilst I am certain there are many who are getting the benefit from being able to
travel during the day for free, those of us who are up and out before 9.30am face increased costs which brings me to the subject of how are the bus companies remunerated.
I do not see extra buses on the road. The Stagecoach spokesman said loadings had
increased by 25 per cent on the Preston to Blackpool route.
I accept that in simple terms a full bus will possibly use marginally more fuel for any given journey than a half full bus, but if the bus company have set their fares to produce a profit on the basis of a half full bus then
additional income arising from local
authorities under the free travel scheme
simply increases the bottom line profit which ultimately goes to shareholders.
Is the reward to the bus operators on a flat fare basis or the fare for the journey ?
The bus operators are commercial
organisations and I do not expect them to take a philanthropic attitude to over 60s
travel, but by the same token I do not expect my taxes, be them via Central Government or Local Council Tax to be direct contributors to their net profit.
A balance has to be struck
This was a Government concept and should be funded by central Government.
M Thomas
Kirkham Road
Freckleton

n I love my free bus pass and all the
pensioners I speak to do as well
It's the best thing that's happened to us since sliced bread.
I jump from one bus to another, visiting places all over the Fylde coast and seeing some lovely places I would not have seen if I had to pay. It will be a very sad day if it's abandoned, all because of money. Get the Government to pay the extra money on the tax, not the hard working people of the Fylde coast.
Margaret Crawford
Ashfield Road
Bispham

n In response to Becka Shillito's recent letter (The Gazette, July 30) , the availability of
concessionary fares on Blackpool
Transport's buses is determined by Blackpool council, the Lancashire Districts and
Blackburn with Darwen Council as part of the country wide concessionary fares scheme.
The current Lancashire arrangements are actually better the Government's national minimum scheme. Local senior citizens and disabled persons are entitled to free travel after 9.30am Monday to Friday and all day on Saturday, Sundays and bank holidays not only on local bus services, but also on the Blackpool tramway and the Knott End Ferry. The national scheme only relates to buses and does not provide for free travel after 11pm Mondays to Fridays.
The new scheme is also a significant
improvement on previous arrangements, as it provides for free travel on buses
throughout the whole of England instead of only a free fare in the district in which a
senior citizen or disabled person lived, a 50p flat fare on cross boundary journeys starting or finishing in that district and half fare on all journeys elsewhere in Lancashire, which did not start or finish in the district in which the pass holder lived.
I am also given to understand that the
Lancashire councils are now considering
introducing a 50p flat fare for Lancashire
disabled NowCard pass holders before 9.30am on Mondays to Fridays later this year.
I have spoken to a large number of bus
operators throughout the country. All of them have either already introduced a fares increase to cover for the unprecedented
increase in fuel costs in the last 12 months or intend to do so as soon as their current fuel agreements run out. It is with considerable reluctance that Blackpool Transport has
introduced this latest fares increase, but my company's view was that this price rise was better than the alternative of having to
withdraw a number of marginal services in order to offset our £1 million increase in diesel costs since last year.
In the unlikely event of fuel prices
significantly falling during the course of the next few months, Blackpool Transport will review this increase.
Steve Burd
Managing Director,Blackpool Transport