| Thanks Charlie! |
This time last year I received the free public Travel Pass on reaching the age of 66. While I was looking forward to using it, I also wondered would I use it much. Living in a city provides plenty of opportunity to use the pass, and I have made many trips on buses and trains that I might not otherwise have done. A bus fare in Dublin is €2, so the savings are modest - but I have used the S8 and 4 buses a lot. DART is also free, as is the train to Belfast to visit my daughter Vicki. Recently I used the Aircoach bus service to and from Dublin Airport - again free. While I admit that I can afford to pay the fares, it is nice to be able to travel for free (Roma too!). One of the perks of being an OAP. Thanks to Charles Haughey for introducing this many years ago.
Unfortunately this is an uneven benefit for all OAPs. I have two bus services just a few steps from my house, and the DART is about 20 minutes walk away (or 5 minutes on free bus!) Many people living in rural Ireland cannot get the same benefits and I'm certain that many rural OAPs have seldom, if ever, used their free passes. Unless there is a bus service outside everyone's house, there's not much that can be done about this. The high cost of diesel and the necessity to drive everywhere makes having a free travel pass worth very little. I will continue to use the travel pass and I consider myself very lucky to have it!
No comments:
Post a Comment