Between 2008 and 2021 I’d been using a concessionary TfGM (later Bee Network) bus pass, allowing free transport on buses and trams in Greater Manchester 24/7. Rules changed some time during the pandemic and mine wasn’t renewed.
More recently I got involved with Social Prescribing, like Citizens Advice, who managed to get me a new pass. This time, instead of having 24/7 use, the times of use were limited to ‘after 9:30am and before midnight on weekdays, and all day on weekends and public holidays.’
I got an email from Bee Network on 31st July, stating: ‘During August, you can travel for free before 9:30am and after midnight on weekdays. Disabled person’s pass holders usually pay £1 before 9:30am and after midnight on weekdays. During August, this fare is waived, so you can travel for free at any time. The trial ends on 31 August, at which point the usual travel rules apply.’
Predictably, I only opened the email on 10th August. So in theory, for the subsequent 2 weeks, I could have got the bus to work in the morning, saved on petrol, then after work used the bus or tram to do whatever might be happening in Manchester, then return. And I could have read on the bus, rather than having to concentrate on the road. I’ve not done much bus reading since 2020.
I ended up not getting the bus to work – a lot of hassle when you’re at the gym before or after the shift – but I did forget all about this rule change, (I’m eligible because of memory difficulties in the first place) then went to Manchester on a day off. I still had it in mind that the 9:30 rule applied, having forgotten about the letter and the changes. It wasn’t til I was on the bus that I realised it wasn't 9:30 yet, and thought I might get fined.
The fine never came, obviously, and I’ve since received another email saying ‘From 1st September the standard rules will apply.’ So as of Monday, the rules revert back to how they’ve been presumably since 2021.
What a ballache. It’s not so much the rule change that’s annoying, it’s the acting like it’s some new thing that they’re trying out, when it was literally a 24/7 pass up until 2021. It just feels deceitful and disrespectful to other disabled people who found using the pass hugely beneficial. I have no doubt that there were disabled people using the pass to get to work before 2021, whose shifts started before 9:30am, who then had to pay every day when the rule changed, then didn’t, and now do again.
It would be nice f a reputable news outlet actually reported on this, rather than leaving it to smalltime bloggers like me shouting into the void.
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