I was travelling on our local bus again today. It’s going through the village again now. Whether it was just a matter of time before they cut down the problematic overhanging branches which were preventing the bus turning in the village or whether my complaining influenced matters remains one of life’s mysteries. But it’s all running smoothly again now and remarkably to time.
I caught a bus at 1.00, not at the crossroads but a bit further along the road as I had time to spare, and travelled to Uppermill where I went to the library and the hardware shop. Then I walked through the park to the Tesco store in Greenfield (getting my Fitbit steps in!) and worked efficiently through my list of stuff to buy. With a couple of minutes to spare I was at the bus stop waiting for the 2.30 bus for home. It arrived on time. That was when the trouble started.
We have a single price ticket system on our bus network: £2 for an adult and £1 for a child. I discovered last week that you can re-use your single ticket for another journey provided you do so within one hour of the original purchase. There’s also a day saver, possibly for tram as well bus: £5 for an adult and £2.50 for a child. The trouble today began when a young man got on the bus just after I did and asked for a child day saver. The driver asked to see his Igo pass, a special pass for 11- to 16-year-olds which entitles then to travel at children’s rates. He said he didn’t have it with him so the driver said he should pay full fare, maybe a £2 adult single.
The young man protested and insisted he should have the child day saver. The driver went on to say that it was the fifth time this young man had tried to get away with this and insisted he should either pay the adult fare or get off the bus. The young man became abusive, refused to alight and swore at the driver. A passenger at the back of the bus remonstrated with him, asked him not to swear in front of her child and reminded him to respect other people.
He changed his tune: he doesn’t have an Igo pass because he couldn’t apply for one; mothers have to apply on behalf of their offspring and he doesn’t have a mother. Was the remonstrating lady going to apply for one for him? Of course not! I suggested that of he is only 15 there must be a responsible adult in his life who can help. No there isn’t: was I going to app,y for a pass on his behalf? No, of course not! And so it went on, back and forth. The driver threatened to call the police. The young man said he was happy to wait.
Some 10 or 15 minutes later the driver gave in, sold him a £2.50 child day saver and off we went. The young man got off the bus in Uppermill. He could have walked there in the time he was arguing with the driver. He did have the good grace to apologise to the remonstrator with the small child … and then muttered that the child will no doubt hear much worse! Another young man got on in Uppermill, again without an Igo pass. When challenged, he politely paid the adult fare!
Maybe if we all carried identity cards of some kind there would be no meed for Igo passes and arguments with bus drivers.
The bus driver, by the way, was very calm and restrained.
Fortunately the sun shone through all of this. Apparently we are in for a heatwave through the rest of this week and into the weekend. Emergency services are warning about the risk of wildfires. We must all be vigilant!
I was reading an article about the need to decriminalise abortion, almost like a step back in time. It seems that even though the Abortion Act in 1967 gave widespread access to abortion, it was never made fully legal on the statute books. There is still a law that’s largely used to prosecute women for a suspected illegal abortion, a law that was written in 1861 – that’s before women had the right to vote or own property independently! And the number of court cases and convictions has actually increased in the 21st century. Between 1861 and 2022, only three women in Great Britain were convicted of an illegal abortion. Since December 2022 alone, seven women have been charged. One woman has been jailed.
That’s not all, frighteningly earlier this year, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), which sets the strategic direction for policing across the UK, quietly issued guidance on how to search women’s homes for abortion drugs as well as seize their phones to inspect menstrual cycle tracker apps. That sounds like a gross invasion of privacy to me!
We are not as free as we think we are in this country. There are vague and outdated laws (outdated laws again, note!) which mean the police in Britain have far too much power to arrest people for offensive internet speech. According to the Economist, “British police arrest more than 30 people a day for online posts, double the rate in 2017.”
I’d better be careful what I write about!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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