It was Thatcher boot boy, Norman Tebbit, who infamously told the unemployed to `get on your bike' to find work. Now things have moved on and these days it's buses and trams...
Throughout January, under a scheme called Greener Journeys, long term unemployed people in Greater Manchester will be able to get free travel on the Metrolink and on bus services operated by Arriva, First and Stagecoach, as well as cross-boundary services run by Network Warrington and Trent Barton. All they have to do is show a Job Centre Plus Travel Discount Card which can be applied for at the Job Centre.
"This is an encouraging move and one that we will watch with interest" says Councillor Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) Committee "Anything that helps people who have been struggling to find work over a prolonged period should be welcomed and I certainly hope it makes a difference."
Salford Council Assistant Mayor for Transport, Roger Jones, who also sits on the TfGM Committee, has questioned why the free travel will only be available in January…
"I would like this to become a permanent scheme for people who are long-term unemployed" he says "How do we achieve this?"
Well, one way might be to cut the obscene salaries at Transport for Greater Manchester, where two execs pocket around £200,000 a year and six others trouser between £90,000 and £129,000 (see Salford Fat Cats click here). You could buy a lot of bus tickets, tram rides and bikes with all that…
Might even be able to provide a few real jobs for the `long term unemployed'…
For more information see www.busforus.co.uk.
For more info on Greener Journeys see www.greenerjourneys.com.
Nowhere Bus graphic by the one and only Jamie Reid
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