Ian Jelf wrote:

Tour buses such as City Sightseeing also advertise "local fares
available" (I understand to get some sort of deal with diesel duty).

Has anyone ever obtained one of these local fares? How much are they?
--
Michael Hoffman

Ian Jelf wrote

I do wonder if the "local bus" aspect of the new concessionary pass
will
sometimes lead to confusion as to what does and does not constitute a

"local bus". Trent's TP service is one "grey area" I'd say. There

also was once a National Express service which became a local bus for

part of its length in the Pennines somewhere I seem to recall.

Tour buses such as City Sightseeing also advertise "local fares
available" (I understand to get some sort of deal with diesel duty).
I
wonder if that might make *them* liable to carry 60+ passengers free
of
charge? Test case coming I suspect!

Free to pass holders, but I understand the District or Borough where
they get on will have 60 fares to pay to the bus operator from their
budget. Of course if the service is "operated on behalf of XXX
Council" this may be a transfer from one public purse to another.

I noted that the 2007 summer-only "Royal Landscape Link" service. Ride
Pegasus! (First in Berkshire) 300 (Virginia Water Station - Windsor via
Windsor Great Park)

has

Concessionary Fare Permits are not valid on this service
This service is supported by Royal Parks and Savill Garden

Doubtless, someone will soon be posting here with answers to these
and
many other questions.

The Freedom Pass site has :

Q. What is the definition of a 'local' bus?

A. The definition of a 'local bus' will be self-evident in most cases,
but in a few instances could include some longer distance buses and
coach services where
part of their route is registered as a local bus service. If in doubt,
freedom pass holders can check with the service operator or local
Transport authority in that area.

--
Mike D

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

I'm not sure whether such sightseeing operators will be overly keen on
letting mobs of older English people on board - that said I suppose
they would be recompensed for it! I'm sure I read somewhere (can't
remember where though) that the National Bus Pass scheme meant
operators would be compensated for the full fare that would otherwise
have been paid - but I do find that very hard to believe. Anyone know
the broad outlines of how it will work?

Here in Bolton the First Manchester bus drivers now issue a ticket to each
Pass Holder as they get on, this practice has been in use for about 12
months only. I presume as a check against subsidy received.

KW (Only 409 days to my Free Bus Pass and Free Trains in Gtr Manchester).

On 17 Feb, 19:30, Michael Hoffman wrote:
Has anyone ever obtained one of these local fares? How much are they?

The Original Tour brochure has unlabelled tables of them for their
main tour routes:
http://tolst.mcs01.community.net.uk/...luiizcqxec.pdf

Looks like it's £1 per stop except Monument-Aldwych and another for
Aldwych-Tower of London, which add £7 each (the latter is at least via
London and Tower Bridges). So you can pay £14 for a sub 3 mile bus
ride from Aldwych to Tower of London.

They also do other routes with normal-ish fares:
http://tolst.mcs01.community.net.uk/.../page_122.html

Can't find any mention of local fares on the Big Bus Company's
website.

U

--
http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/
A blog about transport projects in London

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008, Ian Jelf wrote:

In message , Peter Campbell Smith
writes
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote in
:

There will also be some people who for bizarre reasons not worth
going into think that the symbol pronounced "pound" is a
noughts-and-crosses grid.

That's because the hash symbol in US keyboards is in the same place as
our pound symbol (shift 3).

I believe the reason # is called a pound sign by Americans is that it is
sometimes used in the USA to mean pounds weight. In American usage, #3
means 'number 3' and 3# means '3 lbs'. The latter is a bit old-fashioned,
but you see it sometimes in markets and the like.

I seem to recall years ago hearing the # symbol called "Gate" as well. Can
anyone else confirm this?

Wikipedia's heard of it, and says it's telephone engineer's slang.

Can anyone remember the ritual needed to summon Clive?

tom

--
All bloggers must die.

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:21:52 -0800 (PST), Mizter T
wrote:

On 15 Feb, 17:27, "Lüko Willms" wrote:
Am Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:53:55 UTC, schrieb Mizter T
auf uk.railway :

So, do I get Greyhound coaches thrown in as well, or is it simply
local buses?

Ask First Group, they own both.

Cheers,
L.W.


Going by past reports of the unreliability of what First's customer
service departments say, I dare suggest that if I wrote to them asking
if I could use a London bus pass on Greyhound coaches to cross the
continent I might well get an answer in the affirmative.

I propose you make the experiment

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:27:17 +0000, David Hansen
wrote:

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:35:02 +0000 someone who may be Tom Anderson
wrote this:-

There will also be some people who for bizarre reasons not worth going
into think that the symbol pronounced "pound" is a noughts-and-crosses
grid.

Astounding! As any fule know, this is called the octothorpe.

I call it a square.

I've heard that on some IVRs but, to be honest, never understood it,
as it's not a square! Admittedly, if written/printed straight up
rather than, if you will, in italics, it contains a square... but the
eight prongs should preclude it rom being a square...

For the record, I call it a "hash".

On Feb 17, 2008, Ken Ward wrote:
Here in Bolton the First Manchester bus drivers now issue a ticket to each
Pass Holder as they get on, this practice has been in use for about 12
months only. I presume as a check against subsidy received.

On Stagecoach Manchester they issue a ticket and throw it on the floor,
meaning there is usually a pile of tickets littering the entrance way of
the bus.

That procedure has been in place since the free pass started.

--
Kirk

In message
Kirk Northrop wrote:

On Feb 17, 2008, Ken Ward wrote:
Here in Bolton the First Manchester bus drivers now issue a ticket to
each Pass Holder as they get on, this practice has been in use for about
12 months only. I presume as a check against subsidy received.

On Stagecoach Manchester they issue a ticket and throw it on the floor,
meaning there is usually a pile of tickets littering the entrance way of
the bus.

That procedure has been in place since the free pass started.


They don't need the physical ticket because the machine retains the record of
it being issued. Throwing it on the floor is unnecessary, there are,
presumably, litter bins on the bus.

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

"Ken Ward" writes:

Here in Bolton the First Manchester bus drivers now issue a ticket to each
Pass Holder as they get on, this practice has been in use for about 12
months only. I presume as a check against subsidy received.

On Newbury Buses the driver presses a button on the ticket machine for
each passholder, season ticket holder etc, but it does not actually
issue a ticket.