Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,025
7 January 2011
09:3087994I have just heard on the radio .School freedom passes cost doubled to £100 still good value .OAP will not be able to use their passes until 9.30am .
7 January 2011
10:3487999School freedom passes are, I guess, the cost of a bus pass for children to enable them to get to school. I do feel that you are putting a positive 'spin' on this subject. After all, most children are non-wage earners, yet are expected, by law, to get to school. So therefore, due to the fact that we now only have large schools in town centres, those children in outlying areas have no choice but to get on the bus, or their parents add to pollution, congestion and traffic delays by joining the parents grand prix hour.
All public transport for children in order for them to carry out their legal obligation should be free. Doubling it is not good value for the children, their families or the environment.
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,025
7 January 2011
11:0388001Not spin at all .Children who live over three miles from their school have always had free travel ad continue to do so .The Kent freedom pass fought for long and hard now enables children aged between 11 and 16 oir currently £50 a year free travel all the time .Weekends ,holidays etc so good value .In the days when my children attended schools in Dover because of the three mile limit they had to walk or I had to pay for a weekly ticket .I think those who fought hard and long for free travel or reduced have done well .\What say you Keith .
I know my grandchildren enjoy the freedom of using buses all the time .
remeber not all people have children and pay throught their taxes for the educati0on and travel of children .
7 January 2011
11:2588010OK, so there is an incidental benefit to the children of travel at weekends. However, I was in London with my friend and her three children recently. They used the underground service for free, so the Kent pass isn't as good as you are making it out to be. It is unfair to double the price of a service for children; this is another example of the rich and powerful stuffing the poorer classes.
And it is wrong to try to dress this up as GOOD NEWS. It is bad news for all parents of school age children who NEED to use public transport. Generally this will be the less well-off, or those who work long hours and are unable to join the school run.
Sorry to be offended by this, but I get so annoyed by politicians who stuff us over and then say, ahhh, its ok, its good news really. It just goes to show how easily a lie can pass their lips.
And your comment about not all people having children is true. But I do not suppose a single one of those people will be upset at having to pay into the community for GOOD education and the bettering of the next generation. They are, after all, the ones who will be paying our pensions and their taxes will be keeping the infrastructure running in the future. You could just as easily have said, 'not all people have house-fires, yet pay through their taxes for the fire service'. It is an irrelevant remark.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
7 January 2011
11:3288012susan
i posted on this subject on the front page, apparently some council run bus services will be given the chop.
they also mentions cuts to "older persons strategy" and "early intevention services", do you know what these are?
7 January 2011
12:3188015Well we have 2 children at Dover Christ Church Acadamy and currently they use the freedom passes to get to and from school. I can't see that we will be able to afford the extra £100 so they will be walking to and from River.
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,025
7 January 2011
12:4688016Maybe being brought up during the war Im used to walking .Children of Five years old were expected to walk to school and we had to walk nearly half a mile to get our school dinners .You could only get the bus if you lived over the two miles and three miles if you were over eleven
River to Archers Court is not that far .I have walked up to the council offices before now ,Bikes can be useful
I have just spoken to my daughter and we recalled the days of me buying two weekly tickets for her and her brother to get into Dover .Usually my son walked .
Another £100 per year for two children is better than a rise in council tax .
Howard the floating support will be cut Im not sure how much that will impact on the elderly .
I saw an advert recentlly £12 per hour for help .So an old age pensioner does have to pay out a lot from their pension .
My daughter does not have children and I can tell you she pays out for her old age pension .
Because too many people expect we now have to pay for years of living as a country beyond our means .
Life is full of choices and I chose to pay for my childrens bus fares and not go away on holidays or to pay out on expensive meals .
Its always about choice .
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,025
7 January 2011
12:5088017Lesley not rich .My rent as I live in a shared ownership property has just gone up £7.50per month .I had to down size many years ago .Paul choices .Children had a good education and now give their Mother a helping hand now and again .
7 January 2011
13:0488018Its not relevant to compare walking to school in the 40's 50's or even 60's with walking to school today. The traffic is much more dangerous and if you allowed a 5 year old to walk to school unaided, you would soon be talking to social services.
Paul has said it, from the group whom it affects, it is unaffordable. It is not good news; neither is it good value. As I said before, this government is concentrating on taking as much as possible from the harder working families.
And, from your comment about floating support, this government is also sending more pensioners into poverty (as if its not hard enough for them already).
You can tell the measure of a government and a country by the way it treats the vulnerable in society. This government is concerned only with looking after the rich and powerful. Its most important measure is growth. Growth for the sake of growth is the 'raison d'etre' of only two things. Cancer and capitalism (the main concern of this government).
What is the point of this government? It's not community, looking after the vulnerable, improving the education prospects of our children, investing in public transport, investing in green, sustainable energy, improving our environment. It is the most pointless government to date. And no amount of spin will make us see this any differently.
7 January 2011
13:1088019Sue, not rich either! And I never said you were, but why defend a choice by this government to raid the poor?
As you said, life is full of choices and there are other ways to raise the money to ensure children have access to a good education. Tax the bankers, increase the top rate of tax, ensure there are no loopholes for the rich and powerful who can afford top class accountancy advise, remove our invading army from other countries, reduce our defence budget. The government chooses not to, because the above are 'positive benefits' of capitalism for those who are powerful within that system.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
7 January 2011
14:1388023a couple with 4 school age kids that are on a tight budget are very unlikely to be able to afford 400 quid just for bus fares.
i suppose every group is losing out in this round of forthcoming spending cuts.
we keep hearing about "how we are all in it together", but according to the press the blue high command threw lavish new years parties.
not really sending the right message to us.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,894
7 January 2011
15:3188032I think less than £2 per week for seven days of 'free' travel is very good value for money.
My low paid daughter has to pay a small fortune for my grandson to travel to school by train fom Dover to Sandwich, thank goodness he leaves when his A levels are completed.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
7 January 2011
19:2488085Forgive me for saying so, but isn't this another case of State dependancy ?
As Jan has said £2.00 a week for virtually unlimited local travel is very good value.
I appreciate it is a long time ago since I was at school, but I used to cycle there and back, no problem, so why should it be so bad now ?
Many youngsters or even parents would pay much more than £2.00 before this was introduced.
Roger
Guest 665- Registered: 24 Mar 2008
- Posts: 345
7 January 2011
19:4788087It may be good value over the year but unfortunately you can't pay for it over the year and can only get the full value if you buy it in July to start in Septmber. (just when the summer holidays start and families have that expense as well as the next year's school uniform. So if they are going to put the cost up they could at least make it easier to pay for it, eg by monthly instalments or a rolling year, not just starting in September.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,894
7 January 2011
21:0388098If someone can afford to go on holiday they can save £2 per week even on a very tight budget that is not a lot. So many have their priorities wrong these days, we never went away on holiday when the children were young as we could not afford it and had the odd days out instead. Start saving now and that is half saved by July.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
8 January 2011
07:4988118roger,i disagree with your first line,its more a goverment insentive to get kids to school safely.all so less likely for them to skive off school as most busses drop them of 50 meters from the school entrance.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
8 January 2011
08:5588128Sorry Brian, that's nonsense.
It's not up to the Government to get the kids to school, it's up to the parents and the kids themselves - take responsibility, that's what it's about. Again, like I said before, too much state dependancy.
I do think that perhaps there could be an easier way to pay, so yes, that could be addressed - and quickly too.
Roger
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
8 January 2011
09:4588131I totally agree Roger, it is state dependency. Stagecoach, along with other 'private' bus operators receive around £2.4bn from the department of transport and local authorities, this includes the subsidies that incorporate these fares allowing 'freedom' to young people. These wonderful and well used passes not only allow young people to get to school, a fundemental right and legal obligation, but also to get to shopping centres and leisure facilities placed out of town by short sighted council planning departments....tell me where the choice is there Sue.
With the tax payer stumping up £400m a year in fuel subsidies to these companies, when bonuses to share holders exceed this figure, you are right in talking about State dependency. These companies, much like the rail companies (in some cases the same bunch) are too dependent on hand outs from the state but happy to charge us more for this exploitation. Rail fares have gone up 12.7% in this part of the country(the highest increase nationally)but I bet shareholders will still see their returns.
In an amusing twist Stagecoach recently appealed to the government to not let this reduction in subsidies effect tickets prices (what we are seeing here) they suggested cuts should instead be made to the investment in roads and motorways. Again this shows their disregard for the infrastructure provided by the state that allows them to make money.
Sue, I think you may have something there, people have it too easy these days. My grandad used to go to school by horse. Surely parents could cut out that holiday and buy each child a horse...problem solved. Even better his father didn't go to school "and it never did him any harm" so perhaps parents that would rather go on holiday could just not send their kids to school. They would also save money as they would not have to go in holiday time...they could spend the spare cash on extra horses.
Lesley, wonderful compassionate posts, keep it up. (that bit was serious)
Guest 665- Registered: 24 Mar 2008
- Posts: 345
8 January 2011
09:4788132Jan I don't wish to be rude but please don't make assumptions about me and my familiy and our priorities. I know your comment was not aimed at me personally but I am one of the families who buys these tickets and therefore I have taken it personally. I do not wish to discuss my private finances on a public forum therefore I am not going to dignify your comment with a defence about why it is not always that easy.
I was merely making a suggestion that if they can double the price it would help if they could increase the flexibility of how people can pay for it so that as many people as possible can and will still benefit from it.
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,025
8 January 2011
10:1988134Perhaps Nigel or Gordon will read this thread and find out if there could be an easier way of paying .One problem that would mean more admin work .
Dave ,perhaps the old ways were better my mum had little tins with rent money ,food etc .
I spoke to my sixteen year old granddaughter she thinks its good value .I think a mega rider is £10 per week Slight difference to£2 .A simple question before the Freedom Pass introduced I think two years ago where did the parents get the money for a Mega rider ??
Seems us politicians can never please all the people all the time .
My old chum Keith is silent on this but he Roger and I used to regularly argue for half ptrice travel for children attending school.
I like the Horse post Dave
I read with interest in todays Daily Mail .What being in povertywas like in the thirties
I have posted on here before how my late husband had cardboard in his shoes .
I think its not being able to go in macdonalds now ? .