OAP pass, getting out and about/potential cuts

[dutch 68]

Disability railcard is only 33% discount, not very cheap considering the old rattling out of date trains they use.

Coach is still cheaper and more comfortable less noisy seating than trains.

 

Driving is best option but there are people out there who are medically incapable of driving or cycling.

Edited February 12, 2014 by dutch

[Plain Talker 11]

well I certainly don't fancy trekking to Leeds on the bus from Barnsley, taking 2 1/2 hours...

According to the route planner, if i catch the 0936 coming from Nether Edge, (the first bus after 0930 from here) to get to town, I 'just' miss the 0940, number 265 Barnsley Stagecoach Bus, so will need to catch the 1010, which gets into Barnsley at 1110.

 

The 1125 Number 59 Stagecoach Bus gets me to Wakefield at 1215, with a tight five minutes to connect with the 1220 number 110 Arriva Bus to Leeds arriving at 1251 a whole 3 1/4 hours after boarding the first bus in Sheffield.

There's no stinking point in travelling nearly 3 1/2 hours to get 34 miles to Leeds by bus (including two tight bus-changes) when it's 55 minutes by the train which we can no longer use.

 

It's appalling and disgusting, when you compare that it takes less than 2 hrs 15 minutes to travel the 165 or so miles to London.

[verydull 10]

thats assuming that all those buses are accessible...

[Winner99 10]

well I certainly don't fancy trekking to Leeds on the bus from Barnsley, taking 2 1/2 hours...

According to the route planner, if i catch the 0936 coming from Nether Edge, (the first bus after 0930 from here) to get to town, I 'just' miss the 0940, number 265 Barnsley Stagecoach Bus, so will need to catch the 1010, which gets into Barnsley at 1110.

 

The 1125 Number 59 Stagecoach Bus gets me to Wakefield at 1215, with a tight five minutes to connect with the 1220 number 110 Arriva Bus to Leeds arriving at 1251 a whole 3 1/4 hours after boarding the first bus in Sheffield.

There's no stinking point in travelling nearly 3 1/2 hours to get 34 miles to Leeds by bus (including two tight bus-changes) when it's 55 minutes by the train which we can no longer use.

 

It's appalling and disgusting, when you compare that it takes less than 2 hrs 15 minutes to travel the 165 or so miles to London.

 

Why not just pay for the fare out of the DLA payments you get?

[Joe Totale 10]

Why not just pay for the fare out of the DLA payments you get?

I know that wasn't aimed at me, but as previously said on this thread "everyone is different".

 

 

My mobility card (and a small reduction in Council Tax)is the only benefit I get.

 

 

Free local train travel and early bus journeys kept me out and about, and doing something worthwhile.

 

Some it will hit worse than me.

Edited February 12, 2014 by Joe Totale
too much waffle

[Plain Talker 11]

Why not just pay for the fare out of the DLA payments you get?

 

Do you mean the DLA that, perhaps, is taken from the claimant to pay for their wheelchair or (for those fortunate enough to be allowed to drive) ... a car?..... but which happens to be taken, usually, in its entirety to cover the cost of the chair or the car...

 

(I know that some would say "if you have a car, why use the train?" Well, some might not want to drive that far, or perhaps they want to exercise their choice to be green, and use the train for that particular journey)

 

---------- Post added 12-02-2014 at 19:28 ----------

 

thats assuming that all those buses are accessible...

 

they will be... but not until the end of the decade... (the original legislation was that all buses be accessible by 2012... but that was then pushed back to 2017) *spits in disgust*

 

Also, a bus only carries one wheelchair-using passenger at a time.

.

.

.

Which totally scuppers the plans of, for example, me and my best mate, both of us being wheelchair users, who might want a day out shopping in Leeds, together.

 

We could catch the train together, even if it can be a bit of a squeeze, but there's be no way we could go by bus together. It would involv at least a half-hour wait, between buses, and that, combined with a 3 1/4 hour bus ride, would be more than enough for us to say "Stuff THAT for a game of soldiers!!!"

[Winner99 10]

Do you mean the DLA that, perhaps, is taken from the claimant to pay for their wheelchair or (for those fortunate enough to be allowed to drive) ... a car?..... but which happens to be taken, usually, in its entirety to cover the cost of the chair or the car...

 

(I know that some would say "if you have a car, why use the train?" Well, some might not want to drive that far, or perhaps they want to exercise their choice to be green, and use the train for that particular journey)

 

---------- Post added 12-02-2014 at 19:28 ----------

 

 

they will be... but not until the end of the decade... (the original legislation was that all buses be accessible by 2012... but that was then pushed back to 2017) *spits in disgust*

 

Also, a bus only carries one wheelchair-using passenger at a time.

.

.

.

Which totally scuppers the plans of, for example, me and my best mate, both of us being wheelchair users, who might want a day out shopping in Leeds, together.

 

We could catch the train together, even if it can be a bit of a squeeze, but there's be no way we could go by bus together. It would involv at least a half-hour wait, between buses, and that, combined with a 3 1/4 hour bus ride, would be more than enough for us to say "Stuff THAT for a game of soldiers!!!"

 

Funding is provided for wheelchairs are cars, also if you claim FLA you do not NEED a car you can do online shopping and use the dial a ride service

[verydull 10]

Funding is provided for wheelchairs are cars, also if you claim FLA you do not NEED a car you can do online shopping and use the dial a ride service

you are joking aren't you? Your attitude comes right out of the 1970s or earlier. I get dla, but i dont have a wheelchair. I also like to get out of the house every so often. Im a human you know.. Its a surprise to you i know. I cant drive either.. So yea, i dont have a choice but to get public transport..

[Plain Talker 11]

Funding is provided for wheelchairs are cars, also if you claim FLA you do not NEED a car you can do online shopping and use the dial a ride service

 

You can get EITHER a car OR a wheelchair.

 

I don't know what FLA is, but for those of us who claim DLA, if we have a car,

a) it takes pretty much all but a couple of quid of the DLA. (if not all) to cover the lease/ purchase of the car, and

b) if we use the DL:A to purchase a car, then we can't also have a wheelchair, if we have a wheelchair, we cannot also have a car.

 

Dial a ride is a great organisation, BUT!

 

i) only operates at certain times of the day. (generally office hours)

ii) only operates within a certain area

iii) only serves certain areas on certain days

iv) only operates with bookings a week or so in advance (which doesn't work for someone with a fluctuating condition like MS where they do not know from one day to the next if they will be up and about, or bedfast...

v) The dial a ride can cancel your booking (and frequently did, when I and other friends used it) up to, and including the morning of the journey if they have no volunteer driver to cover the journey you need to make

vi) do not cover hospital appointments or for attempting to get to airports or train stations, where the customer has to catch a train or plane...

vii) don't guarantee a specific pick-up time at the customers' homes.

 

I am fortunate to have the 'net, through my stringent scrimping and saving, but not every disabled/elderly person has, or is able (or even WANTS) to use the 'net, or access online shopping services.

 

Also, surely using the net to shop, and being cooped up indoors, hunched over a hot PC screen only serves to compound the isolation that this withdrawal of concessions forces upon the disabled and elderly?

 

The point of providing the pass, is that the disabled, or elderly pass-holder is given the opportunity to get out and about (theoretically) as easily as an able-bodied or a younger person?

 

---------- Post added 12-02-2014 at 19:53 ----------

 

you are joking aren't you? Your attitude comes right out of the 1970s or earlier. I get dla, but i dont have a wheelchair. I also like to get out of the house every so often. Im a human you know.. Its a surprise to you i know. I cant drive either.. So yea, i dont have a choice but to get public transport..

 

*tuts* Mr Dull... how DARE you expect to be able to get out and about like someone able-bodied.

 

Please turn around, do not proceed outside any further, and return with me, to our rightful incarceration, within the workhouse, where we (presumably) belong, and we are not to attempt to frighten, or otherwise offend those "normal" people who DO belong in polite society.

 

*hobbles away to join Quasimodo and the other "non-normals" in the belltower*.

 

---------- Post added 12-02-2014 at 19:54 ----------

 

Funding is provided for wheelchairs are cars, also if you claim FLA you do not NEED a car you can do online shopping and use the dial a ride service

 

just noticed this. Wheelchairs are actually not cars!

[verydull 10]

could you clear a message space for lil old me pt?

[Plain Talker 11]

okay Verydull, didn't realise my inbox was full... X

 

done

[julado 10]

You can get EITHER a car OR a wheelchair.

 

I don't know what FLA is, but for those of us who claim DLA, if we have a car,

a) it takes pretty much all but a couple of quid of the DLA. (if not all) to cover the lease/ purchase of the car, and

b) if we use the DL:A to purchase a car, then we can't also have a wheelchair, if we have a wheelchair, we cannot also have a car.

 

Dial a ride is a great organisation, BUT!

 

i) only operates at certain times of the day. (generally office hours)

ii) only operates within a certain area

iii) only serves certain areas on certain days

iv) only operates with bookings a week or so in advance (which doesn't work for someone with a fluctuating condition like MS where they do not know from one day to the next if they will be up and about, or bedfast...

v) The dial a ride can cancel your booking (and frequently did, when I and other friends used it) up to, and including the morning of the journey if they have no volunteer driver to cover the journey you need to make

vi) do not cover hospital appointments or for attempting to get to airports or train stations, where the customer has to catch a train or plane...

vii) don't guarantee a specific pick-up time at the customers' homes.

 

I am fortunate to have the 'net, through my stringent scrimping and saving, but not every disabled/elderly person has, or is able (or even WANTS) to use the 'net, or access online shopping services.

 

Also, surely using the net to shop, and being cooped up indoors, hunched over a hot PC screen only serves to compound the isolation that this withdrawal of concessions forces upon the disabled and elderly?

 

The point of providing the pass, is that the disabled, or elderly pass-holder is given the opportunity to get out and about (theoretically) as easily as an able-bodied or a younger person?

 

---------- Post added 12-02-2014 at 19:53 ----------

 

 

*tuts* Mr Dull... how DARE you expect to be able to get out and about like someone able-bodied.

 

Please turn around, do not proceed outside any further, and return with me, to our rightful incarceration, within the workhouse, where we (presumably) belong, and we are not to attempt to frighten, or otherwise offend those "normal" people who DO belong in polite society.

 

*hobbles away to join Quasimodo and the other "non-normals" in the belltower*.

 

---------- Post added 12-02-2014 at 19:54 ----------

 

 

just noticed this. Wheelchairs are actually not cars!

 

WHO disturbs me in my belltower at his ungodly hour??? Would you like a cuppa