In message , at 12:21:41 on
Fri, 4 Mar 2016, Paul Corfield remarked:

We are in the same situation as prevails with the concessionary pass -
spend millions on free travel with the consequence being that support
for the actual bus services cannot be funded so services get cut /
abolished forever. That's the economics of the mad house - I suspect
users would rather keep their services even if they had to pay a bit
more to do so.

There's a rural bus service where I live that the council is proposing
to ask passengers-with-twirly-cards to pay the fare one day a week, in
order to provide enough funding to keep it running at all.

On balance, I think this sort of "voluntary" tax is the thin end of a
wedge. Next we'll be asked to pay a "voluntary" £50 to visit the GP, and
so on. I suppose this sort of thing started a long time ago with the
museums going free, and subsequently twisting people's arms for a
contribution.
--
Roland Perry