Damn those greedy disabled and aged pensioners for sucking up all our valuable public transport seats!

Call to make pensioners pay full fare

By transport reporter Kylie Simmonds

A new report has recommended scrapping concession fares for pensioners travelling on public transport during peak hour.

The peak lobby group, the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF), says public transport in Australia costs $5 billion per year.

But the forum says only one-third of that is recovered through fares and the rest is subsidised by governments.

TTF chief executive Chris Brown will today launch a new report which makes several revenue-raising and cost-cutting suggestions to deal with Australia’s growing population.

Mr Brown says one of those would be allowing concession holders cheaper fares on public transport only during off-peak hours.

“You can’t sustain a system where concession pensioner rates are clogging up peak-hour transport,” he said.

The report also suggests congestion charging, franchising different modes of transport and raising revenue through better advertising.

Clogging up peak-hour transport! Yep, that’s what TTF’s Chris Brown said.

Obviously, all those socially subsidised pensioners on their way to their 1st and 2nd jobs are bludging up all the facilities. Those poor people… they’re so POOR and… unprofitable.

I expect Mr Brown to do two things; 1) come up with some hard numbers on how many pensioners actually ride public transport in peak hour and 2) stand on train platforms checking that blind folks have bought tickets for those seeing-eye dogs. Oh, and… explain to his own aged parents or relatives why they should get the hell off his gravy train and WALK.

What Mr Brown is suffering from is called ‘downward envy.’ It’s the irrational belief that aged and disabled pensioners somehow have it too good.

NEWSFLASH, Mr B: It’s not easy living with disabilities and the diminished capacity to earn that comes with advanced age. Australia is a wealthy country and we as a society afford certain consideration to those who are not as well-off as those in the earning mainstream.

Utterly shameful, Mr Brown.

-weez