I was very pleased to hear that TfGM and the Bee Network will, throughout August, lift the barrier on pensioners travelling for free before 9:30am. Admittedly, it's only being done on a trial basis and they want to monitor how often it's being used and how much it's likely to cost before they decide whether to abolish the 9:30am start time forever or not, but it's still a start.
For one thing, it means my dad now doesn't have to pay to take one of our cats to the vet for an operation at 9am later this month. It would, had the restriction already been lifted, also have meant that one of my friends didn't have to pay to travel to Chorlton for a mutual friend's funeral back in June.
It does seem to have belatedly occurred to transport operators that just because people are of retirement age they might still have to get up early in the morning for things like appointments, funerals, or - let's be honest here - work.
Similarly, with the lifting of the travel cap at midnight, it also seems to have occurred to transport operators that retired people might have a late night social life as well.
This is all to the good.
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