Paul Terry wrote

Bus-pass journeys starting outside the city of Cambridge are
irrelevant,
because they are not paid for by the city council.

But, as already discussed, the return journey does so start and so
Cambridge has to pay. A worse case would be a trip in, another bus to a
factory shop then reverse on the return. Three out of four would
'start' in Cambridge.

All of this has, in fact, been thoroughly discussed in parliament,
where
it was agreed that cities which are tourist centres are unfairly
treated
by the current grant arrangements - Cambridge, Norwich and Oxford
were
mentioned in particular (see Hansard for 26 January 2009).

There really is no doubt that tourism is the main problem -
particularly
now that we have an increasingly mobile population over the age of 59

with time (and bus passes) on their hands. AIUI, the grant
arrangements
are being reviewed (hence the answer to the original question in this

thread) with a view to making them more equitable.

Lots of assertions but not even sampled actual data.

Of course it was noted that the Scilly Isles had tourists but no buses
so made a profit on the deal.

--
Mike D