Free bus day

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 17 Sep 2004, 12:56

Was sent this...thought people might be interested.

FREE BUS DAY

Take advantage of your day off on Holiday Monday with Free Bus Day.

Ride the bus for free into the city centre and check out In Town Without My Car week events in the City Chambers quadrangle (see below).

There is no need for a token or a voucher - just turn up, get on the bus and
travel for free. Free Bus Day on 20 September is the biggest free public
transport initiative that Edinburgh has ever seen. Between 9.30am and
7.00pm, all Lothian Buses, First, Waverley Travel, Scottish Citylink,
MacTours (Services 60 and 69) and Stagecoach buses within Edinburgh
including Ratho and Queensferry will be free. This offer applies to journeys
made within the City of Edinburgh only. Normal fares apply outside the city, cross-boundary journeys, Airlink and City Tours.

IN TOWN WITHOUT MY CAR WEEK
Between 16 and 22 September, Edinburgh will join 723 cities across Europe to celebrate In Town Without My Car week. The event promotes using public transport, cycling, creating "living streets" to make them enjoyable places for pedestrians and cyclists to spend time, and using cars responsibly.

On Monday 20 September, the Edinburgh autumn holiday, there will be a range of events and attractions staged in the High Street outside the City
Chambers, kicking off at 11am and running through to 4pm. These include:

* A kaleidoscope of unusual street furniture and sculptures

* Ã‚Â· A chance to ride on some very unusual bikes

* Ã‚Â· Get your bike serviced free by the Bike Station, or contribute to
a good cause by donating your old bike

* Ã‚Â· Learn more about Edinburgh's future transport vision, improving
our local environment and healthier lifestyles

* Ã‚Â· Find out about designing streets for people

* Ã‚Â· Enjoy children's art workshops, street performers and musicians

.

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 20 Sep 2004, 11:03

Anyone take up this offer?

Post by **wangi** » 20 Sep 2004, 11:07

Was going to, but it's a pish offer:

EDINBURGH FREE BUS DAY,
20 September 2004
The City of Edinburgh Council is promoting public transport by funding free travel on all normal bus services within the City of Edinburgh between 0930 and 1900 hours on Monday 20th September 2004. Lothian Buses is participating in this initiative, as are most other bus operators. The following arrangements will apply:

Normal Bus Services operating wholly within Edinburgh (i.e. all services other than 3/3A, 15/15A, 26, 29, 30, 31 (to Polton Mill), 37/37A, 44/44A and 49):

Normal fares will be charged until 0930hrs.
All customers boarding from 0930 until 1900hrs will be able to travel free of charge without tickets. From 1900hrs onwards, normal fares will again be charged.

Cross-Boundary Bus Services 3/3A, 15/15A, 26, 29, 30, 31 (to Polton Mill), 37/37A, 44/44A and 49:

The above arrangement will apply within the City of Edinburgh, but when outside the City boundary (i.e. in Midlothian and East Lothian), normal fares will apply throughout the day.
Normal fares will be charged when travelling from Midlothian or East Lothian INTO the City of Edinburgh.
Fares will NOT be charged to a customer boarding within the City of Edinburgh from 0930 until 1900hrs and travelling into Midlothian or East Lothian.
[Normal fares apply outside the City as this initiative is funded solely by the City of Edinburgh Council; East Lothian and Midlothian Councils
are not involved]

So it doesn't apply on folk going into work - what's the point in that!?

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 20 Sep 2004, 11:29

I know, we were talking about that earlier - it's a big con. I don't know how it's supposed to persuade people to use public transport to travel to work when it blatantly penalises those who do today.

However, since my family are all off for the day, we can take advantage and are off to the zoo shortly.

cornerboy · Post by **cornerboy** » 20 Sep 2004, 17:39

Except the offer doesn't seem to apply to the 26 or the 15!

Post by **wangi** » 20 Sep 2004, 17:45

It does (I beleive) within the city boundaries - but if you took a 26 from Portobello to Musselburgh you'd have to pay.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 20 Sep 2004, 19:25

That's right, it was anywhere within the city boundaries. We successfully went to the zoo and back for free. But I stll can't see how it will encourage people to take the bus to work when they still charged people to go to work!!!

Sandra · Post by **Sandra** » 20 Sep 2004, 21:35

I had to pay to go into work but got a free ride home though pretty pointless as I have a buscard - hope you enjoyed the zoo BB

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 20 Sep 2004, 22:29

Thanks, Sandra, we had a great time. Learned a lot, as eldest proudly showed off his reading skills reading all the signs he could find (and there are a lot of those in the zoo) and youngest showed off that he knew the words for more animals than we did, and kept things lively by trying to climb into the meerkat enclosure, much to our horror. At least he didn't try and get into the painted dogs enclosure...they were worth seeing. He's obsessed with the penguins, so that kept him quiet. And an escape to the members' lounge during the rain helped too, even if it did take an hour for them to serve us some sandwiches because they "forgot". A great day out and the only thing we had to pay for was the food!