A Tangled Web

Cross Border Nonsense



In England's metropolitan counties (of which West Yorkshire is one), pensioners are only entitled to free travel if they use transport wholly within the county catchment area. If they wish to travel to towns in Lancashire, Greater Manchester or South Yorkshire, they are charged a fee because they are travelling 'cross-boundary'.



Turning to Northern Ireland, Auntie Beeb tells us that the UK and Irish Governments are considering a system for harmonising free travel for pensioners throughout the entire island. Why should pensioners on the island of Ireland receive free travel in two completely separate countries free of charge when our local elderly have to pay exorbitant fares to travel to Oldham or Rochdale? The last time I looked, these two towns were both in the United Kingdom. And they tell us that cross-border initiatives are not politically motivated.