Better enjoy it whilst it lasts, because it is entirely unsustainable in the time to come. My retired neighbours...think it is entirely acceptable to pay nothing (in their case) for unlimited bus use
Your neighbours could argue (with some justification) that they have been paying tax for many years and are only now - in their twilight years - starting to see some immediate benefits, since transport - particularly rural transport - is heavily subsidised through the RSG.
An outstanding example of this process is the Conwy Valley railway. Speaking to one of the conductors on that, recently, he told me he rarely has anyone that actually pays on the train. Yet for the denizens of BF, for example, it's something of a lifeline. I've long wondered why the various operators don't do two things: firstly, devise an integrated ticketing system that would allow people to travel the circuit for a single price, starting and ending in Llandudno - or anywhere else on the circuit, for that matter.
The second thing is in Arriva's court: they could introduce special carriages for the season. Viewing carriages, dining carriages and so on, and link that with 'packages', possibly 2-day tours, star-watching tours (the air's remarkably clear near BF, for example), Victoriana tours and more. It
does require some imagination, and it requires the existing companies to start working together and realising that there's money to be made if the thing's properly organised and managed.
You could start with re-nationalisation of public transport so instead of it being there to make a profit from fewer more lucrative routes it might actually be there to provide a service, especially to people in more rural areas.
Modern nationalisation might be workable, but that would have to be within the framework of an integrated transport system, and that's widely regarded in Whitehall as the poisoned chalice of politics.