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Bad news for Pensioners, Commuters etc in South Yorkshire

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Harpers Tate

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It has been confirmed
- disabled holders of an ENTC pass issued by South Yorkshire and their carers, get all their concessions back including "free" train travel on Northern services including to and from West Yorkshire with no daily time limits.
- Senior holders of ENTC passes issued by South Yorkshire get half fare on local rail services; I believe that this is within the county only. They retain the standard national time restrictions for both this rail concession AND their "free" bus and tram travel - 0930-2300 Mon-Fri, all day weekend and holiday.
 
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ECML180

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To be honest I'm surprised Northern didn't just offer half fare for pass holders anyway, better than empty seats, but it could have lost a lot of senior railcard revenue I suppose.
 

34D

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I am pleased to hear the news concerning the disabled user holders of the ENCTS passes...and their carers.

I'm not. It is like sticking two fingers up at the poor disabled folk of west yorkshire: you're not good enough to travel by train from Moorthorpe to Leeds, but disabled from south yorkshire are!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
34D I really hope one day you're disabled and you can no longer get on your high horse!

Thank you for wishing misfortune upon me
 

Dee54321

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I am pleased to hear the news concerning the disabled user holders of the ENCTS passes...and their carers.

Thankyou, at least there are some decent people in the world
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I'm not. It is like sticking two fingers up at the poor disabled folk of west yorkshire: you're not good enough to travel by train from Moorthorpe to Leeds, but disabled from south yorkshire are!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Thank you for wishing misfortune upon me

Don't mention it. West Yorkshire council maybe need to be more generous and stop listening to ignorant people who don't realise how hard it is been disabled.
 

RogerB

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Perhaps there ought to be a national strategy.

I'm sure local politicians use issues like this to discredit their politcal opponents.

Keep politics out of local government, better still, keep it out of national government too!
 

Deerfold

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Thankyou, at least there are some decent people in the world
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Don't mention it. West Yorkshire council maybe need to be more generous and stop listening to ignorant people who don't realise how hard it is been disabled.

And if Central government didn't keep cutting their funding they might be able to be more generous.

I'm wondering what South Yorkshire is going to have to cut to pay for this.
 

tbtc

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I'm wondering what South Yorkshire is going to have to cut to pay for this

So am I.

We've already seen various libraries/ Sure Starts/ bus services/ fire stations/ leisure centres/ drop in centres/ respite centres cut in South Yorkshire, many council staff have been shed (with the remaining staff seeing real term pay cuts), we've seen funding for various other groups/festivals cut, a lot of things are down to the bare bones here...

...plus the well documented "Olympic Legacy" of bulldozing our athletics at the Don Valley Stadium...

...but now there's money to allow disabled pass holders to continue to travel for free on trains inside and outside South Yorkshire...

...plus we've got the "freedom train" pensioners demanding free travel for themselves too (inc travel to Leeds etc) - they are regularly on local radio here likening their "mass protests" to the Kinder Scout mass trespass and pretending that free train travel is some kind of human right (although oddly not one that pensioners in West Yorkshire/ Greater Manchester etc get).

Honestly, the sound of dozens of angry pensioners singing "we shall not be moved - we are riding on the freedom train - we shall not be moved" on breakfast radio is one way to wake me up in the morning <D

Does anyone know whether SYPTE still pay for the "fourth" carriage on Class 333s? That's no use to anyone in South Yorkshire. Plus, we could stop paying for "foreign" pensioners to use Supertram (in fact, we could stop South Yorkshire pensioners using Supertram for free, as its not an ENCTS requirement, but they are angry enough already - I can't see any politician daring to make further cuts to our millitant pensioners)
 

ECML180

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Although it poses the question, would cutting supertram funding(benefiting pass holders in Sheffield only - where there are also good bus services) pay for train funding(benefiting pass holders across South Yorkshire)?
 

HSTEd

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Noone is going to axe concessionary passes for pensioners.

Anyone who does automatically loses the next election.
 

RogerB

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...........
Honestly, the sound of dozens of angry pensioners singing "we shall not be moved - we are riding on the freedom train - we shall not be moved"..........

I like the irony - no we shall not be moved - we can't get on the train!
 

HSTEd

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Has anyone suggested they are?

This post seems to be rather a non sequitur.

Some people up thread were proposing significant cutbacks in pass availability or even axing the entire scheme.
WHich is obviously never going to happen.
 

bus man

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Could they bump up the council tax a little?

No because central government won't allow it they want cuts. I suspect the current encts will be modified after the next election
 
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Bill Stanier

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....pretending that free train travel is some kind of human right (although oddly not one that pensioners in West Yorkshire/ Greater Manchester etc get).

Errm, they do in Greater Manchester. Free travel on train, bus and Metro tram. Over the border in Cheshire we pensioners just get free buses after 09:30.

Concessionary travel for OAPs should be a national scheme - the same throughout the UK.
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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Over the border in Cheshire we pensioners just get free buses after 09:30.

Indeed this is the case in Cheshire East. I do confess to being somewhat a tad envious of those with the TfGM-issued passes who seem to be currently very well treated by TfGM. Of course, not being financially embarrassed does help to "soften the blow"....:D
 

NorthernSpirit

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Does anyone know whether SYPTE still pay for the "fourth" carriage on Class 333s? That's no use to anyone in South Yorkshire. Plus, we could stop paying for "foreign" pensioners to use Supertram (in fact, we could stop South Yorkshire pensioners using Supertram for free, as its not an ENCTS requirement, but they are angry enough already - I can't see any politician daring to make further cuts to our millitant pensioners).


If I stood for Labour then the so called 'free' tram travel would be axed and the free from 0930 - 2300 would be narrowed down to 1100 - 1530 Monday to Friday but all day weekend and I would actually dare to do it too, make the pensioners wake up and make them realise that Labour is no longer for the working man.

Yes I may end up with the whole lot of South Yorkshire's millitant pensioners demanding that they want this, that and t'other for nowt but I would refuse to back down.

One thing that I would have though is a national free at anytime disabled travel pass so whether the person is autistic, blind or are wheelchair bound. (I will add that I too have traces of aspergers but I do not qualify for a disabled ENCT pass as my slight disabilty does not serverly impair me from normal day to day activities but by former girlfriend did have a disabilty that did serverly impair her day to day life what with her having autism).
 

Dee54321

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If I stood for Labour then the so called 'free' tram travel would be axed and the free from 0930 - 2300 would be narrowed down to 1100 - 1530 Monday to Friday but all day weekend and I would actually dare to do it too, make the pensioners wake up and make them realise that Labour is no longer for the working man.

Yes I may end up with the whole lot of South Yorkshire's millitant pensioners demanding that they want this, that and t'other for nowt but I would refuse to back down.

One thing that I would have though is a national free at anytime disabled travel pass so whether the person is autistic, blind or are wheelchair bound. (I will add that I too have traces of aspergers but I do not qualify for a disabled ENCT pass as my slight disabilty does not serverly impair me from normal day to day activities but by former girlfriend did have a disabilty that did serverly impair her day to day life what with her having autism).

Well said, it's nice to see someone respecting the disabled
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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If I stood for Labour then the so called 'free' tram travel would be axed and the free from 0930 - 2300 would be narrowed down to 1100 - 1530 Monday to Friday but all day weekend and I would actually dare to do it too, make the pensioners wake up and make them realise that Labour is no longer for the working man.

If you stood as an official Labour candidate, the views that you express above need to be notified in advance to the local party hierarchy for approval, as I am sure that any candidate who stands under the party name would have their electoral platform vetted prior to publication of electoral literature being printed, in case the chances of other Labour party candidates were affected by your views.

To be safe, stand as an Independent, then you will be beholden to none.
 

Deerfold

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If I stood for Labour then the so called 'free' tram travel would be axed and the free from 0930 - 2300 would be narrowed down to 1100 - 1530 Monday to Friday but all day weekend and I would actually dare to do it too, make the pensioners wake up and make them realise that Labour is no longer for the working man.

Yes I may end up with the whole lot of South Yorkshire's millitant pensioners demanding that they want this, that and t'other for nowt but I would refuse to back down.

One thing that I would have though is a national free at anytime disabled travel pass so whether the person is autistic, blind or are wheelchair bound. (I will add that I too have traces of aspergers but I do not qualify for a disabled ENCT pass as my slight disabilty does not serverly impair me from normal day to day activities but by former girlfriend did have a disabilty that did serverly impair her day to day life what with her having autism).

Are you intending to obtain some supreme power that puts just you in charge instead of all the councillors/parliamentarians having to vote on these ideas?

I'm particularly impressed that'll you achieve all this just by standing - no mention of actually being voted in.

Concessionary travel for OAPs should be a national scheme - the same throughout the UK.

Wasn't that the point of the ENTCS scheme in the first place? Different areas of the country offered different benefits from nothing to free travel.

I suspect if it was standardised throughout the country it'd be stripped back to the minimum levels or there would be more calls for central government to increase their funding of the scheme.
 
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radamfi

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In most countries, there would be no differentiation between bus, tram, metro, and in some cases, local train. The same ticket is valid on all those modes of transport. And therefore the same applies to concessionary passes.

However, it must be said that by no means all other countries give free travel to pensioners. They are probably in the minority. For example, even the very highly taxed Danes don't get totally free pensioner travel. In Copenhagen, over 65s can get 85% off season tickets, and these tickets have peak restrictions. Dutch pensioners only get one third off. But undoubtedly they are well off compared to British pensioners so they are more than capable of paying.
 

RogerB

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Given that free travel is a perk of being a pensioner, what company perks do the employed members of this forum get?

Staff discounts, company car, subsidised canteen, uniforms, clothing allowances, duck houses, meal allowances - you know the sort of stuff.

Pensioners don't get any of these and most pensions are well below the average wage, so cut us some slack at least!
 

natureboy

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If I stood for Labour then the so called 'free' tram travel would be axed and the free from 0930 - 2300 would be narrowed down to 1100 - 1530 Monday to Friday but all day weekend and I would actually dare to do it too, make the pensioners wake up and make them realise that Labour is no longer for the working man.

Yes I may end up with the whole lot of South Yorkshire's millitant pensioners demanding that they want this, that and t'other for nowt but I would refuse to back down.

One thing that I would have though is a national free at anytime disabled travel pass so whether the person is autistic, blind or are wheelchair bound. (I will add that I too have traces of aspergers but I do not qualify for a disabled ENCT pass as my slight disabilty does not serverly impair me from normal day to day activities but by former girlfriend did have a disabilty that did serverly impair her day to day life what with her having autism).

Quite right. Why can't pensioners be grateful for what they get? They're always banging on about something. If it's not free travel it'll be something else. Start loosening that tight strap around the old purse.
 

Tetchytyke

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Noone is going to axe concessionary passes for pensioners.

Anyone who does automatically loses the next election.

And that's the problem. The ENCTS was brought in as an electoral sop by Gordon Brown and it has never been properly funded, right from day one. Whichever government gets in in 2015 needs to be brave enough to abolish the scheme, because we're rapidly reaching the stage where these free bus passes are causing cuts in schools and in social services.

Councils can't raise council tax to pay for ENTCS- any tax increases over 1.99% have to be approved by local referendum- and Central Government are cutting block grant funding every year. Free bus passes or care for the elderly- I know what I'd choose.
 

Tetchytyke

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I was not aware that Health and Transport were now in a conjoined ministerial authority with a single budget that can differentiate between its financial priorities. Pray tell me, when did this departmental joining take place ?

Local authorities are responsible for delivering social care and also for paying for the ENTCS.

Local authorities are not realistically able to increase council tax, and the grants from central government are being cut drastically.

The funding from central Government for ENCTS is not sufficient to cover the council's expenditure on the scheme, especially in tourist-friendly and rural areas. Therefore the ENCTS budget has to be "topped up" from elsewhere in the local authority's budget.
 

RogerB

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Quite right. Why can't pensioners be grateful for what they get? They're always banging on about something. If it's not free travel it'll be something else. Start loosening that tight strap around the old purse.

That's a little unfair. Who goes on strike at the drop of a hat? The RMTU for one. Compare a tube driver's salary of £30,000 with the state pension of £6000.

Pensioners have no levers to pull to protect their income.

Most pensioners I know don't have a tight strap around their purse, there's no point as there's sod all in the purse.

I'd like to see the position you take when you reach pensionable age, in what, 60 years?
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Most pensioners I know don't have a tight strap around their purse, there's no point as there's sod all in the purse.

There does seem a prevailing view that the majority of people on pensionable income also have a private pension to supplement this. Private pensions were not exactly as universal as they are today in the 1960s'/1970's when the extra personal payment to fund them was certainly not in vogue, nor was there the same amount of advertising to encourage this. Personally speaking, I did have the foresight to pay into a private pension in those times on my own volition but then when company pension schemes really came into vogue, I also joined those schemes, notwithstanding the personally funded ones prior to this.

Many married women in those times took the offer to pay a reduced rate of Married Women's Allowance not realising that this would only mean they received a lower rate of State Pension when they retired. Fortunately my good lady wife now of some 72 years vintage had the foresight not to opt out of the full payment scheme, but knew of many women, the majority of which are now widowed, who did pay the reduced rate and found their State Pension was not the level they anticipated.
 
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