Vulgarian Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 PRESS STATEMENT Issue date: 31 July 2009 BUS CONCESSIONARY FARE SCHEME The Department of Tourism and Leisure had announced changes to the Senior Citizens’ concessionary bus fare scheme which were due to commence on Monday 3rd August. However, the Department is now pleased to announce that it is deferring the introduction of the half fare charge for two hours during the late afternoon peak period until the Bus Review is completed and all other options explored. Mr Graham Cregeen MHK, Member for Tourism and Leisure with delegated responsibility for Public Transport, said: ‘Whilst making it clear that this was the third element of a three part change in fares that the Department considered necessary for the current financial year, I have now asked the new Director of Public Transport, Ian Longworth, to reconsider this issue as part of the Bus Review that is due to be completed later this year. This will allow all stakeholders to be consulted and alternative options to be reviewed. We will then be able to present a series of options designed to help us choose how we balance our budget in these difficult economic times.’ Hon Martyn Quayle MHK, Minister for Tourism and Leisure, said: ‘It is already understood that the Department faces difficult financial decisions and whilst the long term issues of replacing and operating buses are still to be addressed, I entirely support Mr Cregeen in deferring his initial decision and in incorporating the issue into the Bus Review. The Department hopes to be able to consult on the initial results of the Bus Review in October 2009.’ Ends Contact: Mr G Cregeen, MHK – 686711 Hon G M Quayle, MHK, Minister – 686711 Mr I Longworth, Director of Public Transport – 686711 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queenie Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I am a car owner and regularly use the bus, I quite enjoy it and it's preferable to drink driving or paying expensive taxi fares. I have found that the 5.10 & 5.40 Onchan, Castletown & Anagh Coar buses are frequently very busy, so I can understand the reasoning. Don't quite get the 3.30 - 5.30 time bracket though - surely most school children have their own buses. I would think that 5.00 to 6.00 would be sufficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jehovah Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 This can only be the fault of the politicians, what has tourism got to do with a decent bus service that actually serves the public? They can have the trams and trains, but the buses are integral to efficient running of the islands infrastructure. Maybe education should run them because more schoolkids than tourists use them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manshimajin Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 the OAPs should get out there at the next election and vote against sitting members if they do not force the DoTL to reverse this policy. Moaning does a bit of good but testicular grips on politicians is the real way for the OAPs (and anyone else) to get their way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandma Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I am over in England on holiday at the moment and unable to use my IOM OAP bus pass here, but I have seen English OAP's using their English bus passes on IOM buses! No doubt at the discretion of the IOM driver. As an aside, I am in Sheffield this week and can get an all day mega rider for all the Sheffield Trams and busses for the grand sum of £3. Far less than the Island Explorer ticket! These trams and busses reach out at least 5 miles from Sheffield. I am going to have fun tomorrow and see how many busses and trams I can get on and how far they take me. They pass every the stops every fifteen minutes! Near Fleetwood you can get a bus to Blackpool every 10 minutes! If they do bring this new rule in, can I get a child multijourney ticket and use that with my IOM OAP pass for the dedicated two hours? Cheaper than using cash on the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 What's the rationale behind funding OAPs transport? It must be a job creation scheme in public transport, is it? And perhaps for fear that if they stay still too long they will get rusty (the buses that is, not the old people)... i'd rather see a bus full of coffin dodgers paying nothing than be stuck behind them trying to drive themselves around at 20 mph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queenie Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I am over in England on holiday at the moment and unable to use my IOM OAP bus pass here, but I have seen English OAP's using their English bus passes on IOM buses! No doubt at the discretion of the IOM driver. As an aside, I am in Sheffield this week and can get an all day mega rider for all the Sheffield Trams and busses for the grand sum of £3. Far less than the Island Explorer ticket! These trams and busses reach out at least 5 miles from Sheffield. I am going to have fun tomorrow and see how many busses and trams I can get on and how far they take me. They pass every the stops every fifteen minutes! Near Fleetwood you can get a bus to Blackpool every 10 minutes! If they do bring this new rule in, can I get a child multijourney ticket and use that with my IOM OAP pass for the dedicated two hours? Cheaper than using cash on the day. Think that would be too logical for the powers that be. They'll have to bring in special OAP tickets! I do have great respect for the Manx bus drivers - they put up with all kinds of nonsense and are happy to be tourist guides into the bargain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Voice of Reason Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 OK revolutionary idea. But let be buses be free for all! Many's the time I've been on a half full bus and been the only one one who has paid a fare. It would prove our green credentials. OK obviously revenue is going to be lost, but how much? I'd like to see the figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celt Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Some negativity in some cheap remarks towards pensioners. Maybe some off the people with smart arse remarks should remember that not all pensioners are well off, housebound, disabled or such. Getting out and about, for however long, could be the main point off their day. Also take into account that many off these people are single, on limited income, ( they only recieve what the Law states is the minimum to live on, so every penny might count. Most pensioners don't want sympathy as they're old, they just want help so they don't end up destitute. A big fear, whether it could happen, to people who might still live with Victorian values and fears. So whilst the slaggers might have money to burn now, i hope when they retire that they've put enough away to see them to death or the system has got better for old folk. As the major electorate comes from the elderly, i hope that they remember this in the next election. Nothing short off disgusting imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulgarian Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 I have seen English OAP's using their English bus passes on IOM buses! No doubt at the discretion of the IOM driver. Well they're not fucking supposed to! If they can afford to come on holiday or move to the Island, they can afford £2 for the bus fare, the cheap cunts. If they do bring this new rule in, can I get a child multijourney ticket and use that with my IOM OAP pass for the dedicated two hours? Cheaper than using cash on the day. No they are for children! The interesting thing about this new rule is that OAPs will be charged half fare from wherever the bus is at 3.30, even if they got on before that. So they could get on a bus at 3.10 in Ramsey to go to Douglas but have to pay half fare from Laxey, which is roughly where the bus is at 3.30. Bonkers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemonday Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 A decision Followed quickly by A reversed decision Cue Youtube Video - Don't make a decision in the Isle of Man 'Oooh Dont make a decision in the Isle of Man People will moan as soon as they can Any new ideas get flushed down the pan Oh don't make a decision in the Isle of Man' I wonder who would like to be filmed singing it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 See, the thing is that most of us really need the bus now. After all that went on in the sixties and seventies decades, all that rebeling and all that protest marching, to say nothing of the LSD, the flower power, all that going off to find yourself (in my case I had to go a hell of a long way for that). Then there was the bigger picture, Y'know, changing the world and all that. Learning to sing and play all those instruments I tell you , it was bloody knackering. Mini skirts and tiny tops, all to blame for the achey joints today. Thigh high 'Mary Quant' boots which resulted in funny shaped feet in old age. Bloody cannabis making you think you were free to do anything you wanted. so we did! And taking the consequences. Aaah, those were the days, my friend. But what we overlooked was that we wouldn't be 'singing and dancing' for ever and a day. If we do the grandchildren get embarrassed. Popular culture The counterculture movement dominated the second half of the 1960s, its most famous moments being the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967, and the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York in 1969. Psychedelic drugs, especially LSD, were widely used medicinally, spiritually and recreationally throughout the late 1960s, and were popularized by Timothy Leary with his slogan "Turn on, tune in, drop out". Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters also played a part in the role of "turning heads on". Psychedelic influenced the music, artwork and movies of the decade, and a number of prominent musicians died of drug overdoses (see 27 Club). There was a growing interest in Eastern religions and philosophy, and many attempts were made to found communes, which varied from supporting free love to religious puritanism. Popular music entered an era of "all hits", as numerous artists released recordings, beginning in the 1950s, as 45-rpm "singles" (with another on the flip side), and radio stations tended to play only the most popular of the wide variety of records being made. Also, bands tended to record only the best of their songs as a chance to become a hit record. The developments of the Motown Sound (Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Marvelettes and so on), "folk rock" (The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Sonny & Cher and so on) and the British Invasion of bands from the U.K. (The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones and so on), are major examples of American listeners expanding from the folksinger, doo-wop and saxophone sounds of the 1950s and evolving to include psychedelic music. The rise of the counterculture movement, particularly among the youth, created a huge market for rock, soul, pop, reggae and blues music produced by drug-culture, influenced bands such as The Beatles, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Bob Marley, Deep Purple, The Who, Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Animals, and The Incredible String Band, also for radical music in the folk tradition pioneered by Bob Dylan, The Mamas and the Papas, and Joan Baez in the United States, and in England, Donovan was helping to create folk rock. The San Francisco Sound began in this period with many popular bands coming out of the Haight-Ashbury district, well-known for its hippie culture. Such bands included Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Santana, and Big Brother and the Holding Company. So, us croaky old coffin dodgers, shuffling along in the queue to the pearly gates do really need our bus passes. Isle of Man transport can't really expect us to have any strength and energy left to get ourselves about these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domino Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 See, the thing is that most of us really need the bus now. After all that went on in the sixties and seventies decades, all that rebeling and all that protest marching, to say nothing of the LSD, the flower power, all that going off to find yourself (in my case I had to go a hell of a long way for that). Then there was the bigger picture, Y'know, changing the world and all that. Learning to sing and play all those instruments I tell you , it was bloody knackering. Mini skirts and tiny tops, all to blame for the achey joints today. Thigh high 'Mary Quant' boots which resulted in funny shaped feet in old age. Bloody cannabis making you think you were free to do anything you wanted. so we did! And taking the consequences. Aaah, those were the days, my friend. But what we overlooked was that we wouldn't be 'singing and dancing' for ever and a day. If we do the grandchildren get embarrassed. Popular culture The counterculture movement dominated the second half of the 1960s, its most famous moments being the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967, and the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York in 1969. Psychedelic drugs, especially LSD, were widely used medicinally, spiritually and recreationally throughout the late 1960s, and were popularized by Timothy Leary with his slogan "Turn on, tune in, drop out". Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters also played a part in the role of "turning heads on". Psychedelic influenced the music, artwork and movies of the decade, and a number of prominent musicians died of drug overdoses (see 27 Club). There was a growing interest in Eastern religions and philosophy, and many attempts were made to found communes, which varied from supporting free love to religious puritanism. Popular music entered an era of "all hits", as numerous artists released recordings, beginning in the 1950s, as 45-rpm "singles" (with another on the flip side), and radio stations tended to play only the most popular of the wide variety of records being made. Also, bands tended to record only the best of their songs as a chance to become a hit record. The developments of the Motown Sound (Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Marvelettes and so on), "folk rock" (The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Sonny & Cher and so on) and the British Invasion of bands from the U.K. (The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones and so on), are major examples of American listeners expanding from the folksinger, doo-wop and saxophone sounds of the 1950s and evolving to include psychedelic music. The rise of the counterculture movement, particularly among the youth, created a huge market for rock, soul, pop, reggae and blues music produced by drug-culture, influenced bands such as The Beatles, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Bob Marley, Deep Purple, The Who, Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Animals, and The Incredible String Band, also for radical music in the folk tradition pioneered by Bob Dylan, The Mamas and the Papas, and Joan Baez in the United States, and in England, Donovan was helping to create folk rock. The San Francisco Sound began in this period with many popular bands coming out of the Haight-Ashbury district, well-known for its hippie culture. Such bands included Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Santana, and Big Brother and the Holding Company. So, us croaky old coffin dodgers, shuffling along in the queue to the pearly gates do really need our bus passes. Isle of Man transport can't really expect us to have any strength and energy left to get ourselves about these days. Excellent post, your grammar, spelling, memory, all shone through. The rabble of part-illiterate youth on here - who seem to have nothing else to spend their time on other than slagging off the near dead - should take note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Yes, those 'old' people would have no idea how to cut and paste. Too addled for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilDDog Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 The Ramsey skipper bus never has any more than ten people on it and do they use a single decker bus for the Ramsey town route? No, they use a Double decker bus. Why? Only the bus management can answer that one. I'm with the buses should be free for everyone then people might leave there cars at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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