You may have heard that there are major changes to the bus pass concessions. The changes that affect us are that free travel will start at 9:30 and train travel will not be included. However trams will still be included but from 9:30. For the official details see http://www.sypte.co.uk/media.aspx?id=3796. Changes start from April.
I have done a quick, and rough, analysis of how this will affect us and of the 171 walks in the database about 65 are affected. Half of these are bus/tram times before 9:30 and the rest are train rambles.
The Rambles Committee will meet to consider the implications and what we can do about them. It may be possible to change the timings of some walks but bus cutbacks have already made some timings difficult. So far there has been no other news about changes to bus services.
My original figures were for the whole year and approximate. I have had time to refine them but they still show that about 40% of walks will be affected.
From 1st April when concessions change they are:
Total walks 118 excluding the 4 Coach and 3 Meals
Train walks 21 excluding Hope Valley
Weekday bus walks before 9:30 25
Weekday tram walks before 9:30 1
Total affected walks 47 (40% of all walks)
That’s right, Carole, weekends remain the same. That’s the national position.
Reading the information in paragraph 4 it states ‘weekdays’ the concessionary will be from 9.30am to 11pm. Do we take it that the weekend concessionary times are possibly not changing? My fingers are crossed as I write this.
It had to happen. We have been lucky in Sheffield with the 9:0 am start and free railway, the rest of the country have not had it.