Montane Spine 2023

[Mark G]

I don't yet qualify for a bus pass (although I originally expected one over four years ago, until equality between the sexes meant we both now have to be 66) but I would happily use the limited bus service we have to go to Kendal and on into the Lakes - but it's prohibitively expensive and much cheaper to take the car. There is a temporary initiative to charge £2 for most single bus fares but unless something longer lasting is introduced the inevitable decline in public transport will continue. It's a vicious circle - prices go up, fewer people who have a choice use the bus so prices go up further and/or services are cut.
The bus pass is not a free entitlement. It's something we have paid taxes for all our working lives and which most of us continue to pay taxes to support in retirement. If the government were really serious about reducing emissions they could do a lot more to support public transport and get cars off the road.

True story - a few years ago my elderly parents with 4 other younger relatives walked from Ambleside to Grasmere. They had a meal in the cafe at Rydal Hall for which my father paid. When they got to Grasmere they decided to return to Ambleside on the bus. My parents had bus passes, the others did not. The cost of four single fares back to Ambleside was more than the cost of the food for six in the cafe.