Was Watt Right

dpd666

spaceHopper wrote: »

No it's horse sh1t to deflect attention. We have public transport that is at full capacity and Dublin corpo are deliberately obstructing cars from getting into the city. It's a joke. Blaming a few older people who might be 1 or 2 % of the people in the bus. People don't get up early for no reason if they are on the bus they probably need to be there

Maybe Leo should have words with him. After all he does love the Getting up early crowd does he not. Maybe their going to babysit working parents children that's why they are on the bus ?

BonnieSituation

GhostyMcGhost wrote: »

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/irish-rail-to-immediately-deploy-additional-security-to-dublin-northside-services-37038243.html

“Mortgage slaves” have had to put up with welfare spongers, junkies and wasters causing absolute carnage every where they go.

The bus/train are similar in the amount of antisocial behaviour going on. Many times I’ve been on a bus that won’t go near Finglas or Clondalkin over safety fears

But yeah, us “mortgage slaves” are really put out by a few OAPs travelling around. Let’s go after the most vulnerable and soft targets.

What a completely insulting way to divert from the real issue. When I work my bollox off and come across lads like that, THATS what pisses me off... that, and this poxy government trying to turn us against each other at every turn. The social divide is HUGE in this country thanks to FG

TL;DR

No, he’s not right... By any stretch of the imagination

OAPs are the most vulnerable? My hole they are.

They're not all wizened 85yo on Zimmer frames.

L1011

Roanmore wrote: »

My wife is qualified but has never used it, we were under the impression it was non peak hours

It was, until FF courted the substantial elderly vote in 2002


There are very few outright abuses of the system - which clearly otherwise assists the recipients. A token peak fare (50c maybe) would be sufficient I think.

There are some utter abuses - professional adverts or donedeal sellers offering delivery - but they're so rare and wouldn't be impacted by a peak ban to any extent

Sam Russell

I think a 'peak' ban would be unfair and unreasonable if it is to include an evening ban. It is too easy for someone to be delayed and fall foul of the ban.

However, a morning ban is easier to implement and enforce, as well as being clear. I think that would eliminate those using te card to go to work.

end of the road

Sam Russell wrote: »

Which of the options I suggested would you favour? Or none?

option 5 is the only one which has any merrit. the rest are just symbolic nonsense which achieves nothing IMO. i would be surprised if they didn't cost more to sort out then they would bring in in income.

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Absolutely. Public transport is heaving in the mornings and evening. How galling is it for students and employees to watch a full bus go past which might have free travel users on it.

I say this as a complete supporter of the scheme. But come on... Something's gotta give sometime. And the cosseted OAPs need a root up the hole.

it doesn't matter How galling it might be for students and employees to watch a full bus go past which might have free travel users on it, as the bus is for everyone, not just the student or employee. and even if the pensioners weren't on the bus and it was still full, what then? bann people earning below a certain income from the bus as well?
nothings got to give on this specific suggestion, and the cosseted OAPs don't need any root up any hole. by all means look at who is entitled to avail of the scheme in the first place, but that is ultimately a separate issue.

Pixel Eater wrote: »

Well if the OAPs paid a little then maybe there would be more money for some extra buses.

i'd doubt it. even if there was i can't imagine it would buy many busses.

looksee

If the OAP needed to get somewhere at an early hour s/he would pay the fare - you can't ban people from using the transport system, only from using their card. So the bus would be no less full.

If they were just travelling with no time pressure then they could travel later/earlier, and a payment at peak hours would be a good idea to encourage them to travel off-peak.

I say this as an oap travel card holder.

Another suggestion might be a pre-loaded card that could be scanned and would give say 1 return train journey per month and 5 bus trips per week, if you want more than that you pay for them. Or reduced cost travel. But the cost of administering something like that might easily be more than the present system, and would not affect the peak hours issue.

What should be avoided is the random reference to one group in society - oaps for example - and making them the scapegoat for all ills. The 'wealthy' oaps are the least likely to use the travel pass as they would mostly be driving or driven. And of course it comes back to the argument - if you make provision for your old age by saving and investing in a pension, why should you then be penalised compared to the feckless individual?

BonnieSituation

end of the road wrote: »

option 5 is the only one which has any merrit. the rest are just symbolic nonsense which achieves nothing IMO. i would be surprised if they didn't cost more to sort out then they would bring in in income.



it doesn't matter How galling it might be for students and employees to watch a full bus go past which might have free travel users on it, as the bus is for everyone, not just the student or employee. and even if the pensioners weren't on the bus and it was still full, what then? bann people earning below a certain income from the bus as well?
nothings got to give on this specific suggestion, and the cosseted OAPs don't need any root up any hole. by all means look at who is entitled to avail of the scheme in the first place, but that is ultimately a separate issue.



i'd doubt it. even if there was i can't imagine it would buy many busses.

No simply ban those who have no urgent use for it ie. What we had before 2002 timelimited free passes. We had it before and we should have it again.

end of the road

BonnieSituation wrote: »

No simply ban those who have no urgent use for it

pointless as one's urgent use is anothers not urgent use and so on. the current situation means we don't have to bother trying to deal with this nonsense. if someone needs to travel they will and if they don't they won't. it's then not our concern as to whether they fit the "good reasons" for travel that will differ from individual to individual.

BonnieSituation wrote: »

ie. What we had before 2002 timelimited free passes. We had it before and we should have it again.

which didn't work so we got rid of it. we don't need to have things again that didn't work the first time. public transport isn't just for you or me, if you want a seat get there earlier.

mosesposeses

What about people who have conditions that restrict their modes of transport (i.e. epilepsy etc) that have a bus pass, but need to get in and out of work?

Amirani

mosesposeses wrote: »

What about people who have conditions that restrict their modes of transport (i.e. epilepsy etc) that have a bus pass, but need to get in and out of work?

I'm not sure why their commute needs to automatically be free? If they're working then paying a couple of euro for the bus would be do-able for most I'm sure.