Free bus travel for unemployed.

[northwichcat]

More than 800,000 jobseekers will get free bus travel in January to help them find jobs.

Those who have been unemployed for between three months and a year will be eligible for the nationwide scheme, which has been organised by a coalition of transport bodies.

They will need to hold a JobCentre Plus Travel Discount Card, which already entitles them to half-price journeys.

Arriva, First, Go-Ahead, National Express and Stagecoach are among the operators signed up to the deal, which covers 70% of routes in England, Wales and Scotland.

Transport minister Norman Baker says: "Good bus services play a huge role in boosting economic growth by helping people to access employment and training opportunities.

"I have been encouraging bus operators to look at the fare deals they can offer to young people looking for work, so I congratulate the operators that are doing so in January and look forward to seeing other offers in the future."

I don't know if their is a full list of participating operators anywhere on the web. If it's only those big 5 it'll mean some areas have most of the bus routes covered by the scheme while others have none.

 

[tbtc]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/10/unemployed-free-bus-travel

The local bus operators taking part are Trent Barton, Kinchbus, Blackpool Transport, Cardiff Bus and Network Warrington

 

[wintonian]

Anyone found any details yet?

I'm not sure about the guardians comparison to Norman Tebbit however who also said "unemployment is a price worth paying".

 

[Yew]

Why is there a limit of a year?

 

[wintonian]

Free travel, using the existing Jobcentre Plus travel card giving 50% off train travel for people unemployed for more than three months, will begin in January and could be extended if there is good feedback.

Possibly for this reason?

Or rather this is more likely to be the reason

 

[455driver]

Great, so more of my taxes will be given to the job dodgers*, isnt it enough that I have to pay for their rent, council tax plus all the other benefits they get while they drop sprogs left right and centre!


* please note this is NOT aimed at the genuine people that through no fault of their own are willing to work but unable to secure a job who I am happy to provide for, its just a pity the government doesnt spend a bit more on them and less on the dodgers that know how to milk the system.

 

[Deerfold]

Great, so more of my taxes will be given to the job dodgers*, isnt it enough that I have to pay for their rent, council tax plus all the other benefits they get while they drop sprogs left right and centre!


* please note this is NOT aimed at the genuine people that through no fault of their own are willing to work but unable to secure a job who I am happy to provide for, its just a pity the government doesnt spend a bit more on them and less on the dodgers that know how to milk the system.

It's not clear from the article who's paying for it - it sounds like an initiative from bus companies (perhaps hoping that people will continue to travel on them when they get a job).

I know when I was unemployed (it's been 16 years now but I've had a couple of thankfully short periods of being unemployed) transport costs were a major drain - especially for travelling to interviews/library (not quite so much on the internet then...). There was a half fare scheme for the unemployed in West Yorkshire but there was also a charge for it - this went up from £2 to £5 every 4 weeks - at a time when a monthly bus pass would be about £25. At the time there were no day passes or season tickets which were covered so you often actually ended up spending more than half as much as an adult on a day ticket would. I often ended up getting a full-price monthly ticket as my cheapest option - and at least knowing I wouldn't have any more transport costs no matter how many job interviews I landed.

 

[northwichcat]

It's not clear from the article who's paying for it - it sounds like an initiative from bus companies (perhaps hoping that people will continue to travel on them when they get a job).

I recall the New Deal railcard gave a 50% discount. Half of the discount was paid for by the Department of Work and Pensions and the other half by the participating TOCs.

 

[tbtc]

Great, so more of my taxes will be given to the job dodgers*, isnt it enough that I have to pay for their rent, council tax plus all the other benefits they get while they drop sprogs left right and centre!


* please note this is NOT aimed at the genuine people that through no fault of their own are willing to work but unable to secure a job who I am happy to provide for, its just a pity the government doesnt spend a bit more on them and less on the dodgers that know how to milk the system.

I presume that part of the reason for this announcement now is as a "carrot" compared to the recently announced "stick" of real term cuts in the value of most state benefits (apart from pensions which will continue to go up by the highest of three measures).

The question I have is will this be full free travel anywhere (like the OAP passes) or will it be restricted to attending job interviews (so requiring proof of interview etc)?

 

[northwichcat]

The question I have is will this be full free travel anywhere (like the OAP passes) or will it be restricted to attending job interviews (so requiring proof of interview etc)?

I don't think that will really work due to so many interviews these days being arranged by phone or email and interviewees not having a printed letter to present.

 

[NathanPrior]

I recall the New Deal railcard gave a 50% discount. Half of the discount was paid for by the Department of Work and Pensions and the other half by the participating TOCs.

They don't even give that railcard out anymore

 

[Eagle]

They don't even give that railcard out anymore

They just renamed it, didn't they? To Jobcentre Plus Discount Card.

 

[ChathillMan]

I understand after speaking to management at one of the bus companies in the scheme that it has been introduced from 'up above', i.e group level, and that the groups are being paid directly by JSP, instead of customers having to pay bus fare direct to the bus company and then getting it refunded for job interviews by the job centre

 

[Mojo]

I think it's more worthy to give free travel to certain job seekers than giving free travel to rich pensioners.

 

[BestWestern]

Any more of these bright ideas and the bus operators will be lucky not to go bankrupt!

Once upon a time people got on a bus and, shock horror, bought a ticket didn't they?!

 

[northwichcat]

Once upon a time people got on a bus and, shock horror, bought a ticket didn't they?!

According to some people from Sheffield they use to practically travel for free in the 1980s e.g. paid 1p or 2p to travel.

 

[Deerfold]

According to some people from Sheffield they use to practically travel for free in the 1980s e.g. paid 1p or 2p to travel.

Indeed, but there was no danger to the bus companies as they were heavily subsidised and mostly state-owned.