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Enterprising Weymouth pensioner beats free bus pass time rules (From Thisisdorset)
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Enterprising Weymouth pensioner beats free bus pass time rules
9:30am Wednesday 22nd April 2009
AN ENTERPRISING pensioner has devised a way to beat bus pass rules on boarding times – by climbing aboard at the next stop.
Bob Poots, 65, has discovered that he can use a bus at any time with his pass if he walks to a bus stop just within the West Dorset district on Dorchester Road near to Old Station Road.
Yet if Mr Poots boards the bus on Littlemoor Road, at the stop closest to his home within the Weymouth and Portland borough boundary, he can’t use his bus pass before 9.30am or after 11pm.
Early riser Mr Poots, of Weymouth, lives just inside the West Dorset district boundary.
He has branded the situation ‘ludicrous’, because West Dorset tax payers have to walk around half a mile until they can board at a bus stop in keeping with their local authority’s allowances for bus use.
Mr Poots said: “I don’t use the bus very often but I tried to go into Weymouth with my bus pass and I ran into a few problems.
“The simplest thing would be if all the councils did the same thing with the bus pass scheme. It would be nice if everybody could use the bus pass whenever they like.
“Any reasonable person must surely agree this is a ludicrous situation which should be resolved. This can be quite easily achieved by incorporating the three bus stops in question as permissible boarding places.”
Mr Poots has written to his local councillor asking if changes could be made to how the bus stops are classed under different concessionary fare schemes.
A Weymouth and Portland Borough Council spokesman said that the authority complies with the national concessionary bus pass scheme.
Ken Brake, West Dorset District Council’s contact and support team leader, said: “We have received a small number of enquiries about this particular bus stop, which is sited within Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s boundary.
“West Dorset District Council does allow free all day travel for its residents, but we have always stated that this additional concession can only apply for journeys commencing within our district.
“It would not be possible to incorporate this stop within our boundary as this would mean changing well-defined local authority borders.
“Any attempt to incorporate this stop into our area could have implications for other close border stops, such as with North Dorset, Purbeck and South Somerset district councils and could incur additional costs.”
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Your Say YourDorset
SnakeskinCowboy, Weymouth says...
9:56am Wed 22 Apr 09
You would think pensioners would be grateful for getting free buss passes, but no they also want to use them at peak times so working folk who pay for their buss transport can't get on.
Whatever next, free swimming when there is a perfectly good beach down the road that tax payers don't need to fund.
Genghis, Portland says...
11:53am Wed 22 Apr 09
The problem at peak times isn't the number of pensioners. It's the lack of buses. Peak time and less buses running just don't add up.
Pensioners being able to use their passes before 9.30 isn't a decision based on peak time congestion. It's a simple reality that W&PBC don't have the money to fund it. Simple.
I Don't Like The New Echo Website, Weymouth says...
12:14pm Wed 22 Apr 09
If has so much spare time to be looking at every loop hole and flaw in the bus pass scheme, he should get a hobby. Or some friends.
The point at which West Dorset ends and South Dorset begins has to be SOMEWHERE and it just so happens to be there.
THE BUS PASS IS FREE. USE IT WHEN YOU ARE MEANT TO USE IT.
This is all being covered by The Dorset Echo simply to attack the local Tory led council. If it was mainly a Labour led council, the Labour supporting Dorset Echo would not cover the story.
If South Dorset were to allow anytime travel, it would cost even more in subsidies.
I Don't Like The New Echo Website, Weymouth says...
12:29pm Wed 22 Apr 09
Bob Poots lives in Icen Lane in Upwey (this information is freely available on the Dorset Echo website- which is how I found it- I have nothing better to do with my 30 minute lunch break).
He claims that his nearest bus stop is on Littlemoor Road. He would have to walk through Nightingale Drive to get to the Littlemoor Road (or maybe through Meadow View Road).
However, the actual distance to the bus stop he is referring to on Dorchester Road would certainly be the same distance from his house as the Littlemoor Road bus stop (if not a little closer).
So, unless he has moved since 4th Jan 2007 (when the article regarding him winning a visit from folk due of Foster and Allen Children In Need competition was published)why would he get on the bus on Littlemoor Road instead of the "free" stop on Dorchester Road?
So, the Dorset Echo is using one of it's current/former) employees to further smear the local council on the subject of the free bus pass times.
The Dorset Echo- trust what they print at your peril!!!
Genghis, Portland says...
12:30pm Wed 22 Apr 09
dunketh, Portland says...
4:56pm Wed 22 Apr 09
You're travelling for FREE. What gives you the right to specify terms?
What anyone else does is irrelevant. Don't like it - move to West Dorset.
mikeman, Portland says...
4:58pm Wed 22 Apr 09
So, the Dorset Echo is using one of it's current/former) employees to further smear the local council on the subject of the free bus pass times.
How can you smear such a bunch of clowns like the Tory led council we are stuck with they do that themselves without any help from the Echo.
Security word: from-fact
I Don't Like The New Echo Website, Weymouth says...
5:36pm Wed 22 Apr 09
Whenever there is a local election, the coverage is minimal (to avoid being accused of bias) which is understandable.
However, with the recent swimming campaign and now the bus passes, it is all blatant attacks on the council.
Seeing Gordon Brown on the cover recently with the reporter was a farce. If it had been the Daily Mirror, then fair enough.
You just don't/shouldn't expect it from a local newspaper- getting the Echo weatherman involved is just farcical.
Genghis, Portland says...
7:35pm Wed 22 Apr 09
The Echo, as a local newspsper, should refrain from politics? Absolute nonsense. Which law of the land states that? Local and national newspapers will always have a political standpoint because they are privately owned.
Perhaps if we left your personal political crusade behind and stick to the facts we'd sink this story a lot better. The facts of the story are that free bus transport is provided for pensioners within a certain time period. It can't be extended outside of this period unless the Government stump up the cash. One thing that nobody has mentioned is that for every person bleating about their bus pass there are a far greater number that are grateful for the free bus travel throughout the day.
I Don't Like The New Echo Website, Weymouth says...
7:57pm Wed 22 Apr 09
As for the rest, not so sure (but then I would say that!)
It just irritates me that there seems to be this double standard in the Echo. The local council are fair game, but not a word is said about Jim Knight not doing anything to help (despite the fact that HE has the most power to change things).
I take your point about it being privately owned etc, but as a local paper, and as a long time reader, I feel a sense of ownership in it as well.
It just seems that the Echo is always digging for stories that aren't really there in an attempt to pour scorn upon the council. Yes, the majority of councillors are half wits- and the June local elections can hopefully sort them out. But Jim Knight must surely share some responsibility for not securing extra funding to allow the council to afford to offer unrestricted travel?
I quite like the idea of my own personal political crusade.
I wonder....
joni56, weymouth says...
4:54pm Thu 23 Apr 09
Bob Poots
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dilligafmike, portland says...
9:53am Wed 22 Apr 09