The dreaded flash again, so that you can (just about) read this. Maybe I'm turning into my Dad, but I'm not sure I agree with half-price fares for those on income support. Like giving kids free travel, which happened two years ago, it sounds like a good idea, but there were at least two downsides to that particular initiative:
(a) kids get the bus instead of walking, meaning they get fatter, e.g. the kids from the school behind where I live now get the bus two stops to the main road at lunchtime, pick up fried chicken and chips, and then get the bus back. If it cost them 90p each way they wouldn't. Surely this goes against all government health policies? Get the kids walking!
(b) kids now hang out on buses more than they ever did, contributing to a 55% increase in youth bus crime in the first year since free travel was introduced.
But the thing which baffles me most about the half-price bus fares for job-dodgers initiative is that it is funded by an oil deal with Venezuela - you can see their flag at the bottom of the picture. Socialist solidarity or propping up a virtual dictator? Hmm.
2 comments:
Sod all of that, I want to know if, blinded by your flash the bus driver ran you over or not
I travel a lot by bus and have often had occasion to regret the presence of fractious schoolchildren. I recognize that they have as much right as anyone else to use the bus but I don't see any reason why they should travel (a) free and (b) without a ticket. I think they should have to apply for a schoolkids' Oyster and carry a photocard with it. That might also help identify habitual troublemakers. The "School Oyster" should be valid only between certain hours, like the Senior Citizens' Freedom Pass.
I don't mind job seekers or any other worthy persons travelling at half fare. That is a question for the managers of London's economy to work out. If it helps get them back to work, so well and good.
Supporting Venezuela, if that's what we're doing, is another matter. Balancing self-interest and other people's interests isn't always an easy call.
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