# Free bus rides?



## caravanman (Jul 12, 2014)

Hi,

Don't know if you have anything similar on that side of the pond, but I am pleased to find that I now qualify for free local bus travel nationwide in the UK. Broadly speaking, it means that most bus services, with the exception of National Express should be free for me to use. Naturally, I would have liked free train rides more, but one must not be greedy. Should pass many hours for me, trying to cobble together lots of shorter timetables to travel as far and wide as I can!

Ed


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## oregon pioneer (Jul 12, 2014)

Hi Ed,

I've seen many free things for seniors (free ski passes, etc), but for transit, mostly there are only reduced fares and tickets. I've got my Senior Pass to National Parks and Recreation Lands ($10 lifetime over age 62), and I now get reduced fares on our little bus to the nearest big city, but the only free rides I know of are with Island Transit in Washington State (and everyone gets those, isn;t that great??).


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## railiner (Jul 12, 2014)

So you get free bus service within cities, but not between them, right? I don't see why they don't include local rail service as well, like the London Underground....


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 12, 2014)

Congrats Eddie! Were envious but as was said, too bad it doesnt include rail!

Lots ts of American cities ( ie Portland/ Seattle/Austin etc) that used to have Free Transportation for Seniors and even for All downtown now requireSenuors to get a picture ID for a Fee and you get reduced fares( here in Austin its 50cents for Cap Metro Buses and $1.25 for the Red Line Lite Rail, no more free travel!!

Of course Amtrak gives those over 62 a 15% discount on the Rail Fare but I'm not sure about Greyhound, Mega Bus etc since they have really cheap deals!


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## caravanman (Jul 13, 2014)

Hi,

Broadly speaking it is a nationwide scheme... The government funds part and local councils fund part. There are many "local" bus services that run between major cities here, and I should be able to use them all, to travel nationwide. There is a national coach service here that offers a skeleton express serice, I guess a bit like Greyhound... the pass does not cover their services. Because of the part funding by local authorities, residents in that council area often get additional perks... It is free for me to use Nottingham trams, but I can't use those anywhere else. It may be that Londoners get some underground fare advantages, I am not sure. Anyway, the London bus service is very good and free for me, even though the iconic Routemaster busses have been retired.

Happy Travels!

Ed


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## railiner (Jul 13, 2014)

So you can travel nationwide? Congratulations!

Curious about those 'local' bus services you mentioned, that you can use....I'm only familiar with National Express. I rode them once on a trip from Heathrow to Soton.


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## Green Maned Lion (Jul 13, 2014)

I heard London finally got its head on straight and ordered Mercedes Citaro articulateds.


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## oregon pioneer (Jul 13, 2014)

Ed, does that include Scotland (still part of the same country, right? LOL)? And are Post Buses "local"? If so, oh boy, you have a wide, wide world to explore!

And, just curious for the rest of us on AU: how does one actually qualify (i.e. UK citizen over 65, or what?). Any chance a furriner of a certain age would qualify, or do you have to be a taxpayer?

Thanks!


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## caravanman (Jul 14, 2014)

I think it a shame that the iconic London Transport RouteMasters with the open platform have all retired, no info on the newer bus types. Boris Johnson is the current Mayor... if anyone has his head on straight it certainly is NOT Boris.

To qualify for the pass one needs to be a UK citizen, of pension age. Originally, the pension age for blokes was 65, and 60 for women... Due to equality laws they have equalised the ages for both sexes, currently It is age 62, but will rise soon due to folk living longer.

I think the bus rules are the same for Scotland and Wales... not sure if things will change after the Scottish vote later this year!

Just tried out the pass today for the first time: Nottingham to Mansfield to Chesterfield to Sheffield to Bakewell to Chesterfield and back to Nottingham... seems to work fine 

Cheers,

Ed 

PS the local bus services are the same as your Chicago CTA or New York bus companies... The UK is a LOT more compact and many bus companies cover more than one city, so it can create a national network, but it looks to take a lot of bus changes to cover very many miles on the pass!

My first free bus today!


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## Caesar La Rock (Jul 14, 2014)

In Orlando, we have the Lymmo route, which has been free for everyone since 1997. Matter of fact even before that when it was FreeBee it was still free. When it was under Tri-County Transit in the 80s, I think it was 25 cents. Lymmo has recently expanded too.


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## PerRock (Jul 14, 2014)

I thought the Routemasters were still operating, but only on select trips, on heritage routes.

The NBFL (Ner Routemaster, Borrisbus, etc) is up and running. You should be able to find them on routes: 24, 11, 9, 30, 148, 10, 38, N38, 8, N8. They look like nice busses, at least better then most of what we have over here.

peter


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 14, 2014)

How come the Bus Driver is on the Wrong Side? Is the photo reversed?

Just kidding, I know y'all drive on the Wrong Side of the Road in the UK!!!

LOL


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## railiner (Jul 14, 2014)

Even if one could get free travel on all local transit in the US, it would be impossible to go across the US, as you mentioned, there are vast gaps between much of this country.

It may be possible in dense area's like our Northeast Corridor to do it, since metro areas are almost continuous....

Years ago, it was possible to go vast distances such as New York to Chicago, using only electric interurban railways....of course, only hard-core railfans would do anything like that.

Anyone read "All Aboard With E M Frimbo"?


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## caravanman (Jul 16, 2014)

Hi,

Interesting that one could use the electric railways to travel a long distance at one time... I heard that there was a lot of behind the scenes pressure from "the motor industry" in the past to close down city trams and tear up the rails?

There may well be a heritage routemaster bus service, I have not heard of it. A friend of mine has bought his own Routemaster bus, which he takes to Glastonbury music festival and such... He took his to an event in London last week where there were around 130 Routemasters on display, from all over Europe. As he remarked, you wait ages for a bus, then 100 come along at once!

The big thing about the Routemaster is that it was developed over many years by the end users, a specific vehicle to do a specific job.

Cheers,

Ed


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## railiner (Jul 17, 2014)

The "conspiracy", to end streetcars here is pretty well known history, involving the oil companies, bus, and tire manufacturer's, and major transit bus operator's. In fact, the popular film, "Who Shot Roger Rabbit?", was based upon it...

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has preserved a pretty nice fleet of historic buses, as well as subway cars. There is a very nice transit museum located in a former subway station, and the historic buses are displayed at various festivals. During Christmas time, they even are used on some regular routes, to the delight of passenger's.

Included are a couple of old Fifth Avenue Coach Company double decker's....one is similar to the Routemaster, with a rear outside stairway, and also a later model Yellow Coach, known as a "Queen Mary"....  .


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## caravanman (Jul 17, 2014)

Thanks for the info, I will have to look out for that film.

Ditto the info on the NY museum, I will certainly put that on my list of NY attractions.

I did pop into the tram museum in SF, but it was more of a place with photos etc, don't recall any actual trams on display. The lady there

did mention that one of the oldest and most popular of the historic trams was from the Blackpool sea front here in the UK. From Morcambe bay to San Francisco bay, a good retirement move!

Ed


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## Green Maned Lion (Jul 17, 2014)

The tram musuem in San Francisco is located on Market St and the Embarcadero. It costs $2 to take the excursion. You can pick it up anywhere along Market St and the Embarcadero, and it comes with a free transfer to any other Muni service except the Cable Car.


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## railiner (Jul 17, 2014)

If you're visiting SFO, I'd highly recommend visiting the world-class California Railroad Museum over in Sacramento, the state capital, about 90 minutes away...


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## caravanman (Jul 17, 2014)

Been there!

Ed


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## railiner (Jul 17, 2014)

Okay....by the way, the film I cited earlier is actually "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"....see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096438/ :blush:


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