Free Travel Pass

amandstu

A friend in the UK claims that we can apply for Free Travel over there based on being over 65.

Is there anything to that or ,as it seems too good to be true and a product of wishful/muddled thinking:) ?

While I am at ,is it true that the FTP cannot get you to Dublin Airport?

liger

amandstu wrote: »

While I am at ,is it true that the FTP cannot get you to Dublin Airport?

No that's not true.

devnull

You can't use the free travel pass on Dublin Bus Express services 747/757.

It is however valid on Aircoach express 700/702/703 services and regular Dublin Bus services 16/41/102

amandstu

Thanks for the airport info. Any ides of free travel in the UK? Just someone's garbled idea or is there some kind of a loophole/circuitous method as there sometimes can be ?

Doltanian

Free in Northern Ireland for pensioner Free Travel Pass holders, but not for under 66 year old people who may qualify for the Free Travel with a disability etc.

amandstu

Doltanian wrote: »

Free in Northern Ireland for pensioner Free Travel Pass holders, but not for under 66 year old people who may qualify for the Free Travel with a disability etc.

That doesn't surprise me but I was specifically told (and yes I do doubt the truth of it) that it was possible to apply for free travel in the UK generally.

Doltanian

UK residents can get free bus passes and travel within London if they live in London, and they can buy a railcard which gives fare reductions but there is no free trains there as far as I know. Its sort of irrelevant because a Irish Free Travel pass holder wouldn't be entitled to it and the Irish card wouldn't work on a holiday to the UK or anything.

rebel456

You won't be able to use your Irish FTP in Great Britain. But you can purchase a UK Senior Railcard if you visit often. Non-residents can purchase at rail stations or at a few of the major London Airports (not Heathrow). Cost is £30 and you get 1/3 off tickets - peak & off peak.

https://www.senior-railcard.co.uk/help/faqs/visiting-outside-GB/

XPS_Zero

The NI rules are kinda complex.

Within NI (eg Belfast to Derry) you can only travel free if you are over 65 AND get their version of the card.
You can do cross border journeys (Dublin to Derry; Dublin to Belfast; Dublin to Larne Harbor) with the FT card at any age. You can break the journey as well and stop off before your final destination, you will be given an open return giving you up to a month to come back.
"Your cross-border journey must start on one side of the border and end on the other side. You can only use one mode of transport, either bus or train for your journey. You cannot combine these and still travel for free.". You can now book an FT seat in advance on the train now for a small fee.



There are several Bus Eireann services (like the 133) and Dublin Bus services that cover the airport the only one you can't get is the Airport Express bus.


In the UK you can travel on anything (trains, tubes the works) free if you are over 60 but only in London - or wales.
They also have (compared to us) huge discounts for students and armed forces.
Free Travel in Scotland works exactly like here, you have to be senior citizen or have a serious mental or physical health condition that has lasted for more than a year.


Irish people can't apply for these unless they are a UK resident.

splinter65

amandstu wrote: »

Thanks for the airport info. Any ides of free travel in the UK? Just someone's garbled idea or is there some kind of a loophole/circuitous method as there sometimes can be ?

No your Irish Free Travel Pass is not accepted outside of this island.
Visitors to the UK don’t get to travel on public transport for free.
That would be ludicrous .

amandstu

splinter65 wrote: »

No your Irish Free Travel Pass is not accepted outside of this island.
Visitors to the UK don’t get to travel on public transport for free.
That would be ludicrous .

Well sure it is perhaps off the wall to imagine it could be so but (since you brought up the "ludicrous" idea) I don't agree with that.

If there are empty places on trains ,buses or even planes I don't see why oldies should not be allowed to roam gratis over both islands .

If UK oldies traveled free here it wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea either,would it?

"Free" mightn't be exactly the right term as I think private bus companies do get compensation from the treasury when they take a FTP passenger....

XPS_Zero

It's free to the passenger, the state does give them a subsidy (though until the last budget that subsidy was frozen during the crash years and CIE revenue was de-facto subsidizing the FT scheme which was wrong), and that subsidy is a large part of their revenue without which fares would go up, that would be compensated for somewhat by FT users paying fares for essential journeys but that would not compensate for the loss of the subsidy, it would still be a de-facto revenue loss.

We let people from NI use it but that was with a revenue sharing deal, as in the ROI govt pays for our people , NI govt pays for theirs, so any deal with the UK would have to work out like that. It might be worthwhile doing a study to see if the economic bump in tourism from that would be worth the cost.

On a similar matter I've always wondered if it would not be a good idea to have a simple tourism transport pass for transport island wide where for a flat amount say 35 or something you get unlimited travel around the whole island for your two week stay, I have to wonder if the revenue loss would be compensated for by people moving around more and spending more outside Dublin - or if most tourists are already wealthy enough that this would not be more of an incentive. I always wondered if it would be better than the confusing hodge podge of tourism tickets we have atm all covering different areas.

Mrs OBumble

amandstu wrote: »

If UK oldies traveled free here it wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea either,would it?

Shure why restrict it to UK oldies? Why not government-paid public transport for all older visitors, not matter where they come from?

And why restrict it by age anyways - some older people were contributing taxpayers all their lift, but some werern't, and the latter get it just the same as the former. Why not taxpayer funded public transport for everyone???








(I jest, of course!)

splinter65

amandstu wrote: »

Well sure it is perhaps off the wall to imagine it could be so but (since you brought up the "ludicrous" idea) I don't agree with that.

If there are empty places on trains ,buses or even planes I don't see why oldies should not be allowed to roam gratis over both islands .

If UK oldies traveled free here it wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea either,would it?

"Free" mightn't be exactly the right term as I think private bus companies do get compensation from the treasury when they take a FTP passenger....

When my mother travels to Dublin on the train the DSP pay Irish Rail for her ticket, so in effect the taxpayer is paying for her ticket (long story short).
Your suggesting that elderly people sick people and Carers (these are the groups that have Free Travel in Ireland )from all over the world should be allowed to travel from London to Edinburgh on Richard Branson’s trains without purchasing a ticket.
Taking into account that Branson is running a business, he has overheads that must be met, where do you say the cost of these seats should come from?

XPS_Zero

We'd obviously have to do a revenue sharing deal the same as the north.
As for the internal UK system they DO have discount and free systems outside London

Virgins trains, like IE's travel with empty seats all the time and it does not cost any extra to put another person in that empty seat, the journey cost (electricity, fuel, drivers wages, other staff wages) are static.

I think it would be a bit too much letting everyone have it free but a token price for a tourist ticket might be a worthwhile investment

tabbey

amandstu wrote: »

Well sure it is perhaps off the wall to imagine it could be so but (since you brought up the "ludicrous" idea) I don't agree with that.

If there are empty places on trains ,buses or even planes I don't see why oldies should not be allowed to roam gratis over both islands .

If UK oldies traveled free here it wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea either,would it?

"Free" mightn't be exactly the right term as I think private bus companies do get compensation from the treasury when they take a FTP passenger....

Irish OAPs benefit from free travel in Ireland, at the expense of the Irish Exchequer, UK OAPs avail of various schemes there at UK expense.

Free Travel for crossing the border on this island, was a special arrangement negotiated by Pronsias De Rossa, when he was minister for Social Welfare in the Rainbow government of !994 - 97. Extending it further would be an excessive burden on taxpayers, in my view.

For reduced rate travel on our holidays, the Senior Citizen's Railcard is available in the UK. Other EU states may also have something similar, I myself have used the French equivalent, it cost about E60, but I visited twice within the 12 month validity, to get best value.

jelutong

Doltanian wrote: »

Free in Northern Ireland for pensioner Free Travel Pass holders, but not for under 66 year old people who may qualify for the Free Travel with a disability etc.

The relevant card for Republic of Ireland residents is the ROI Senior SmartPass.
Free travel in N.Ireland is subject to the terms & conditions of the N.Ireland Concessionary Fares Scheme.