Youth select committee calls for child fares for all under-18s

The report by the youth select committee, which is a project being run by the British Youth Council and the House of Commons, calls on government to work with transport operators to introduce a single universal age at which young people start paying adult fares. It argues that this age should be set at 18.

“We consider it unacceptable that young people might be excluded from education, training or local communities as a result of high transport costs,” the report states.

“These costs are often increased as a result of young people being asked to pay adult fares. The government should provide a clear lead to transport operators by defining when adult fares should be applicable.”

The report also calls for a “national concessionary scheme” to provide discounted bus travel for young people, and for young people to have better access to information about the reduced fares that may be available to them.

It meanwhile suggests that an existing Department for Education review into how the replacement for the scrapped education maintenance allowance (EMA) is working, should focus on whether new discretionary funding is being made available to cover young people's transport costs. 

The select committee, which consists of 11 young people aged from 14 to 18, launched its transport inquiry in July and held a series of sessions to hear evidence on concerns relating to young people’s experience of public transport.

During its final evidence session on transport, the committee was told that transport minister Norman Baker had been considering the idea of a young person’s bus card, similar to the young person’s rail card, which currently offers discounted travel to young people aged 16 to 25.