To think bus passes for all under 25s is a fab idea

[jnfrrss]

Around here the bus is so expensive that it's cheaper to run a car but many young people can't afford that while saving for a deposit. This is a really good policy by labour imo. I would also restore the bus pass to JSA people as that is really needed.

@Madlizzy, good point - I totally agree.

There definitely needs to be something done about income inequality between the generations as things are very unfair as things stand.

They also need to invest in public transport though. It costs £2.50 single to make the 10 minute journey by bus to our nearest town, max 4 buses an hour and nothing after 8pm weekdays, 7pm Saturdays and 4pm Sundays. Not conducive to younger people getting part time flexible jobs which are often nmw, to sign on or access the library, college etc.

I am not against the idea.
But I would much rather we stopped treating 19-25 year olds as some weird aged where people are neither children nor adults.

People are adults when they are 18 by law. Why do they get paid less and have less access to benefits?

Pay them the NMW, allow them to claim everything over 25s can claim and we might not need to subsidise their transport costs.

I also think they should have time limits on when OAPs could use their concession tickets and they shouldn't be able to use them at peak times. I know this wouldn't be workable though as the concession cards are used by people with disabilities too.

@Madlizzy - Absolutely agree with you, I find it sickening. I've known so many young people struggle to make ends meet because they have the same bills to pay as anyone else! Even if they live at home, it's the perfect time to save for a deposit for their future home.

Quite aside from whether or not they need it, it's absolutely right to pay everyone the same wage for the same job (performance based rises aside).

Whether you like or hate Corbyn, it's no surprise that he is popular with the young, no-one else seems to give a shit about them

I think it would be better if no one had free fares, but all fares were more sensible. I had to pay 6 pounds for a return ticket to go three miles the other day. I am only using it until I find and buy my car as that is clearly far more expensive than the running costs. I'd actually love to use the bus rather than have a car but at those prices I wouldn't be able to afford it regularly!

Utterly ridiculous.

So my 23 year old earning very good money would be entitled to free bus journeys while his 62 year old father on minimum wage would not.

Struggling to see the logic behind that somehow.

No councils will bring back publicly owned bus services as they have no money. Literally none. My council will receive 0 funds from central govt by 2020. They can not afford to pay the subsidies companies require to run the limited rural services that are available .
Yet another empty uncosted promise from a Labour govt that has no idea of how things work outside of London and hopes that most of its voters don’t either

Labour may not have costed this, but they have identified £1.4b from vehicle excise duty (currently earmarked for road improvement)

And yes, only for those councils which China bring public transport back into public ownership. So I'm wondering how much if that £1.4b goes straight to transport companies as compensation for ending their contracts early.

No idea how some random China crept into that post!

Agree with others - reducing the price of the once a day bus service isn't going to help young people in rural areas who will still need a car. If they are going to bribe councils, I'd rather they bribe them with more funding for unprofitable but necessary bus routes.

@stringofpearls is there not a monthly pass that would be cheaper?

I find ticketing a nightmare, but for me a return day ticket would be £6 but because I use an app and buy a 10 weekly ticket, it works out at £1.90. Massive difference but not obvious unless you search through the company's website.

Free travel for teenagers has proved to be a bad idea as it was to get kids to museums etc but lazy teenagers use it to go one bus stop and prevents them from walking and hardly ever gets poor teenagers to art gslleries museums etc. school groups travel free on school trips

Free for young working folks great, my friends have new mortgage far out in suburbs but have to pay £300 each train fair to commute

Ultimately free bus travel would reduce death by pollution, with 40000 deaths each year caused by pollution this would be a good start

Tax payers subsidies motorists, there is no such thing as road tax as it was abolished in 1937 there is vehicle tax and it’s not payable on vehicles that don’t pollute, so electric cars pay£0
Council tax and general taxation pays for roads

Mists cars travel constantly with 3 empty seats 80% yet take up road space and damage the roads through wear and tear

I’d like to see free bus passes and driving age raised to 20

I'd like to see adequate subsidised public transport being a priority, with a definition of "adequate" aiming for appropriate provision in all areas. This includes subsidising train fares. Actually I'd also like to see more emphasis on getting freight on the rail network and trucks being used for shorter links - I don't think we have true "user pays" when the railways are expected to cover all their costs but road maintenance costs are relatively divorced from the end users.

Subsidy systems that increase use but don't actually fund the provision are pretty silly.

Radical idea, I know, but wouldn't the best solution be for employers to pay a living wage, rich people to pay their taxes and reintroduce some sort of government controls for rent? Don't know what can be done about house prices, which are obscenely high, other than perhaps impose a windfall tax on the sale proceeds if not re-invested in another family home.

Many of the U25s I know have expensive mobile phone contracts, multiple trips abroad each year and lots of lavish meals out. Why should they get free transport?
As others have mentioned, I'd rather see free/subsidised travel for school/college students. Cost us £500pa for a bus pass to get DS to 6th form 5 miles away. If he'd gone to his other choice of 6th form college he would have done the 15 mile trip by train but wouldn't have been able to use a railcard due to peak travel time - didn't even want to think about what that would have cost us.

I wouldn't mind seeing the driving age raised, because the u25s are the group most expensive to incpsure because they have the most, and the most serious, crashes.

But I think we're in a vicious circle, because infrastructure has developed in ways that support communities where people drive, learning when still at school and full licence around the age of majority. And unless you want to make rural poverty worse, removing young people's ability to learn to drive just before age at which many join the workforce or go into higher education is unlikely to be helpful.

There have been experiments elsewhere (in Europe, and even in the US, I believe) that have tried making all city buses free to everyone. This cuts out a great deal of the expense and infrastructure which goes with collecting fares and policing fare-payers, so it hasn't just been a straightforward loss of fare income, but lose some, win some.

I'm all for making bus fare cheaper or free for as many people as possible. It helps everyone, not just bus passengers - it helps drivers and cyclists too as there will be fewer road-users overall, so traffic will flow more quickly, time and petrol will be saved.

And as to "who pays for it" - well, I don't think many car drivers appreciate how much they are subsidised, eg with car parks, etc, all of which cost money and which are paid for by everyone, not just car drivers. I think it would be money well-spent.

Our buss are free from the very under used park and ride!

I thought it was u16s who got free bus travel? Anyway I agree with the PP who disagreed with it. Buses in London are now mobile youth clubs with kids only getting on for 1-2 stops. I don't think it encourages exercise at all.

I don't see any need for u25s to get free bus passes at all, unless of course they have medical conditions/physical or learning disabilities.

ipayroadtax.com/no-such-thing-as-road-tax/who-pays-road-tax/

Runnum is the parking free of charge at the park and ride?

Oh, and anything which helps to cut down the number of very young drivers on the roads is incredibly welcome - there's a reason car insurance is eye-wateringly high for under-25s.

If a teen is transported from driveway to activity by car there is no exercise. If a teen catches a bus for jyst one stop, they have to walk to and from the bus stops

9.6 billion subsidies for motorists
Where does this money come from?