tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post3331987476156650576..comments2023-10-22T14:14:16.419+01:00Comments on J. Arthur MacNumpty: The Sunday WhipWillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10978812670312106107noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-7995133041289414342009-12-14T11:39:26.422+00:002009-12-14T11:39:26.422+00:00If ever I saw a policy where the wheels are going ...If ever I saw a policy where the wheels are going to fall off the bus because of gross overloading, it's the Scotland Wide Free Bus Travel Scheme.<br /><br />It's pork-barrel, populist politics at its most basic. Lots of politicians coming up with lots of wheezes for even more beneficiaries to be added to the eligibility list.<br /><br />Free travel for the otherwise socially excluded is a laudable and proper aim - but just how is this ever-expanding policy going to be paid for? Have we any actual hard evidemce as to the social return on the huge public expenditure involved here? How does this equate with the huge subsidies the scheme hands over to the so-called 'private sector' operators (who might not exist were it not for this taxpayers' subsidy?<br /><br />And meantime, do any of these politicians actually travel, like me, on buses in the Greater Glasgow area at peak times? My committment to public transport is becoming ever more tested. Buses that are ovewrcrowded (with a large percentage clearly not commuting workers). This is to the extent that the boarding and exit area at the front of the buses are constantly and dangeroulsy blocked with folks who seem incapable of moving 'down the bus' a little. I cannot understand how the regulatory auhtorities just do nothing about this dangerous practice.<br /><br />And of course, the bus floors are covered in manky wet discarded papers at the end of the morning rush hour - very dangerous for people with mobility problems whom we are now keen to add to the free travel eligibility list.Ted Harveynoreply@blogger.com