Thames Ditton to Babylon gratis
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"How many miles to Babylon?" - Three score miles and ten. "Can I get there by candlelight?" -Aye, and back again... Author Clive Lewis heads for the hills vial local Guildford bus 515. photo: Scott Hortop |
Nursery rhymes at bedtime may, on the face of it, be far removed from the magic carpet of local bus travel when you're sixty-plus. But, come April 1 the destination possibilities handed out to bus travelling pensioners (of which I am one of 16,000 across Elmbridge), range from the adventurous to the exotic.
For, in local bus travel concession terms, this is change in the root-and-branch category. In the space of two years, 'concessionary' travel has been translated from being discounted tickets on local journeys across Surrey, to totally free travel through the week on all 'local' bus services across the county - and to places like Kingston located just over the county border.
Still, the most significant step yet will be taken on April 1. From this point on the calendar, concessionary travel will bring the 'Bus Pass' holder rights to free travel by local bus anywhere in England ! And that means being able to hop on and off local bus services on the way to distant destinations as well as around the destinations themselves.
Note: journeys can only be taken with the pass between 09.30am and up to 11.00pm.
If you become a pass holder in April you'll be sharing a travel experience with an 11 million community of pensioner passengers from every other shire in England. "We don't expect it will be long before the free scheme is rolled out across the UK," a Surrey County Council spokesman told Thames Ditton Today. As it is, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland already enjoy the sort of travel benefits that will be introduced in England in April. And that is not to mention the largesse handed out to our neighbours across London where pensioners enjoy free bus, train, tube and tram travel with Transport for London's Freedom Pass.
So what will lend a measure of enrichment to the travel experience that the (free) local bus will hand out to its pensioner passengers? For one thing, there are myriad sources of information via the telephone, the web and the more readily accessible local libraries and tourist information centres (see below). You can include Thames Ditton's library for a start, and count in tourist information centres at Kingston and Guildford, the two biggest towns served by the local buses that pass through Thames Ditton and its neighbours.
New to bus travel even in your sixties? Try the familiar local routes first then move on to the country lanes in deepest Surrey. Letting someone else take charge of the driving presents the passing scene in a totally new perspective to the usual car trip.
In a very real sense the Bus Pass unlocks the full potential of joined-up travel. Opening up the countryside and meeting and sharing the travel experience with kindred spirits. It presses all the right buttons for the green agenda too.What about the splendours of Borrowdale in the Lake District, the still leafy Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, the Rainbow bus that runs between Nottingham and Eastwood, birthplace of writer D H Lawrence. For spots like Leith Hill, our own Painshill Park and Wisley within Surrey the county council's Passenger Transport Group (see below) can supply bus (and train) guides.
Harry Livesey who heads up Elmbridge's handling department for the new pass, reports that 12,000 applications have already been processed. He fully expects a take-up by 15,000-16,000, and urges those who still have to file their forms/pictures to do so with expedition. Harry and his team are wholly confident that the job will be completed well before candlelight. In the meantime talk to:
Passenger Transport Group, Surrey County Council (for maps and timetables) tel 08456 009 009;
Traveline: (for countrywide service data) tel 0871 200 2233;
Transport Direct (door to door national travel)
Elmbridge Bus Pass Team: email; tel 01372 474 056
Clive Lewis
The author, journalist and Founding Editor of the British Tourist Authority's magazine 'Getting About Britain,' now runs the website: www.gettingaboutbritain.com