Re: Canadians, a couple of questions about health care
From: Mark Underwood (mark.j.underwood_at_btinternet.com)
Date: 12/28/04
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Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 23:19:09 +0000 (UTC)
Bugger talk of so called free heath care .. talk about free buses lol
Free bus travel for all pensioners from 2006
OLDER and disabled passengers will receive free bus travel, with no time
restrictions, across Scotland from 2006, the Scottish Executive announced
yesterday.
The announcement, greeted with cross-party applause from MSPs, goes further
than ministers' previous pledge to extend existing local schemes nationally
by removing the current ban on free morning peak-hour travel. It will also
be extended to ferries, with qualifying islanders receiving a minimum of two
free return journeys to the mainland a year.
The creation of a national plan for the over-60s will end anomalies between
local schemes, such as differences in the length of free journeys. It will
also end difficulties for those travelling across council boundaries.
Nicol Stephen, the transport minister, said the national scheme would use
smartcards to minimise fraud. Special equipment, which would cost millions
of pounds to install, would be installed on buses to register electronically
the cards as passengers boarded.
He added that the "complex, bureaucratic and very time-consuming" mechanism
for reimbursing bus operators for the current schemes would be replaced with
a single payment rate. Lothian Buses, the main operator in Edinburgh, has
already complained that fares are 12 per cent higher than they should be
because it is not being fully compensated.
The minister said the cost of the new scheme would be capped at £159 million
in 2006-07, and £163 million the following year, and that the scheme, to be
administered by the planned national transport agency, would properly
compensate operators for extra services.
The repayment rate, 73.6 per cent of the average adult single fare, was the
same as in Wales, which, said Mr Nichol, was widely accepted as being fair
on both operators and taxpayers.
A separate scheme for young people is to be announced in the spring, with
the concessionary schemes costing a total of £213 million.
At present, Scotland has 16 local schemes, each with different rules on who
qualifies, the nature of the concession, and what form of transport it
applies to. Mr Stephen told MSPs: "Our progress on free bus travel is one of
the major successes of devolution to date. This new scheme will open up
exciting new opportunities and dramatically improve the quality of life for
those involved."
However, he said he did not intend the scheme to switch rail passengers to
buses and would be discussing the proposals with First ScotRail. He said he
would also consider whether there was a case for carers or partners of those
eligible for free travel to be included in the scheme.
The likely number of extra journeys has yet to be estimated, but local
schemes have generated a 40 per cent increase in bus use by more than one
million older and disabled people in the last two years.
The news was welcomed by Scottish Citylink, operator of the country's
largest long-distance bus network, which said the main winners would be
existing passengers being able to travel more frequently. Neil Wood, its
managing director, said details of the reimbursement mechanism had still to
be finalised, but he was confident there would be adequate compensation to
operators.
He added that a smartcard pilot scheme was being run by Dundee City Council
which could be developed into a "citizen's card" allowing access to local
authority services.
Fergus Ewing, the SNP's transport spokesman, said he warmly welcomed the
plans, especially extending free travel to peak hours and ferries. But Brian
Monteith, a Conservative MSP, described it as a "huge subsidy" for private
bus companies.
John Swinburne, of the Scottish Senior Citizens' Unity Party, called on
ministers to ensure that less profitable routes, such as to hospitals, were
reinstated. He said: "Concessionary travel can only be called that if it
meets senior citizens' needs."
Jim Wallace, the Deputy First Minister, said: "I am delighted we have been
able to extend the benefits of our concessionary travel scheme by ensuring
all older and disabled islanders receive two free return ferry journeys each
year.
"This extension to the concessionary travel scheme will help older and
disabled islanders to access the national bus travel scheme and connect
people and communities up and down the country."
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