Free bus passes for under 22s

[Returnofrros]

Cost £111 million per year.

Value.....nope

Necessary......nope

First thing that should be scrapped.

[BCram]

Any indication of the number of trips or the number of passes in circulation, or what the cost of the journeys would have been if they had been paid for in cash to the bus company?

[Returnofrros]

Any indication of the number of trips or the number of passes in circulation, or what the cost of the journeys would have been if they had been paid for in cash to the bus company?

The cost of administrative and paying the bus companies.

A truly ridiculous state of affairs.

[BCram]

£97,166,918.69 of operator reimbursements costs and £5,211,682.19 of operational set-up and maintenance costs. 2.21 Nov 2023 info from Google.

[Returnofrros]

£97,166,918.69 of operator reimbursements costs and £5,211,682.19 of operational set-up and maintenance costs. 2.21 Nov 2023 info from Google.

They cud pay me a helluva lot less than £111 million and I'll vandalise bus stops and rampage aboot the ferry 😆

[jdfc]

I don’t mind giving them to kids to get to school or college, but come 6 o’clock at night they should be invalid, same with 60 plus year olds getting free passes, folk on full time employment getting to travel free is ludicrous, it’s a vote winner, and I won’t start on prescriptions

[islaydarkblue]

I don’t mind giving them to kids to get to school or college, but come 6 o’clock at night they should be invalid, same with 60 plus year olds getting free passes, folk on full time employment getting to travel free is ludicrous, it’s a vote winner, and I won’t start on prescriptions

I am surprised that the minimum age limit for the free bus pass in Scotland has not been increased to current state pension age of 66.

[Deeranged]

I don’t mind giving them to kids to get to school or college, but come 6 o’clock at night they should be invalid, same with 60 plus year olds getting free passes, folk on full time employment getting to travel free is ludicrous, it’s a vote winner, and I won’t start on prescriptions

I've worked since I was 16 with only four weeks where I didn't actually have work in that time and during which I didn't claim any unemployment benefit. I've paid my tax to successive UK and Scottish Governments and currently pay an additional 1% on my tax to cover some so called freebies by the current SNP Scottish Government. When I turned 60 I was given an 'entitlement card' that gets me free (although not really free) bus travel anywhere in Scotland. I've used that card once to get to Glasgow, I was accompanied by someone who didn't have a card and it cost them £10.00 - we paid £1 each booking fee so it cost the tax payer (me) £10. I've possibly used the card twenty times on local buses in the 18 months I've had it so possibly £60 worth on 'benefit' to me. The amount of tax I've paid over the last year, as stated on my P60, nearly drives me to tears.

And you grudge me that card, even though I'm working and essentially paying for it?

[islaydarkblue]

I've worked since I was 16 with only four weeks where I didn't actually have work in that time and during which I didn't claim any unemployment benefit. I've paid my tax to successive UK and Scottish Governments and currently pay an additional 1% on my tax to cover some so called freebies by the current SNP Scottish Government. When I turned 60 I was given an 'entitlement card' that gets me free (although not really free) bus travel anywhere in Scotland. I've used that card once to get to Glasgow, I was accompanied by someone who didn't have a card and it cost them £10.00 - we paid £1 each booking fee so it cost the tax payer (me) £10. I've possibly used the card twenty times on local buses in the 18 months I've had it so possibly £60 worth on 'benefit' to me. The amount of tax I've paid over the last year, as stated on my P60, nearly drives me to tears.

And you grudge me that card, even though I'm working and essentially paying for it?

The extra 1% you pay on your Scottish income tax is not to pay for some so called freebies by the Scottish Government.
They are paid by the funds received annually from Westminster under the rules of the Barnett Formula.
These useless SNP and Green MSPs who voted in favour of charging higher rates of income tax than the rest of the U.K. did not do their homework.
As a result the Scottish Government coffers have received less income tax from high earners in Scotland than they thought that they would receive.
Initially the Westminster Government via the U.K. Treasury handed over any shortfall in the amounts raised from Scottish income tax compared to the expected amount but that may have stopped.
I do not see the point in having a Scottish Income Tax especially as extra staff have had to be employed to administer it and the projected amount to be raised is deducted from the annual amount received under the Barnett Formula.

[Deeranged]

The extra 1% you pay on your Scottish income tax is not to pay for some so called freebies by the Scottish Government.
They are paid by the funds received annually from Westminster under the rules of the Barnett Formula.
These useless SNP and Green MSPs who voted in favour of charging higher rates of income tax than the rest of the U.K. did not do their homework.
As a result the Scottish Government coffers have received less income tax from high earners in Scotland than they thought that they would receive.
Initially the Westminster Government via the U.K. Treasury handed over any shortfall in the amounts raised from Scottish income tax compared to the expected amount but that may have stopped.
I do not see the point in having a Scottish Income Tax especially as extra staff have had to be employed to administer it and the projected amount to be raised is deducted from the annual amount received under the Barnett Formula.

Thanks for confirming that a very small part of the tax I pay in Scotland comes back to me in the very small form of a freebie bus pass.