OAPs weren’t on board bus plan

Paisley’s free bus-travel scheme for pensioners got underway in March 1972 ... amidst opposition from two sides.

The scheme — one of the first of its kind in Scotland — meant that OAPs would have their own buses for travelling in the town.

But the old folks made it clear that they would rather have had concession fares — and some were planning to boycott the buses.

The bus drivers — members of the Transport & GeneralWorkers’Union — were also against the scheme because they didn’t think it would benefit the pensioners.

The Town Council received a letter of protest from the local branch of the union, stating that some of the members were concerned about the free bus plan.

They urged the council to introduce concession tickets, as other burghs had done.

Barry Parker, a union official, said:“Under the Paisley scheme, there will be no buses running in the evenings.

“If concession tickets were issued and the pensioners used the normal bus services, they could travel at any time of the day.”

Tommy Muir was chairman of a special pensioners’committee, set up in the hope of persuading Paisley councillors to opt for a concession ticket scheme.

He said:“Many of the old folk have stated that they will stay away from the buses, but it is now entirely up to them what action they want to take.

“I have been informed that if this scheme is successful, it will eventually embrace blind and disabled people.

“But how the town council will manage to do this with just single-decker buses, I just do not know.”

Baillie William Darroch, promoter of the plan, said the innovation was a very necessary one because of the increasing cost of living. He explained:“This is a completely new scheme, and I would like to see the old folk giving it a trial.”