Did you know this about the free bus travel?

[Rae36]

Everyone aged between 5 and 21 needs to apply for a new Young Scot entitlement card (NEC) to qualify for free travel. Existing ones won't work.

But you can't apply yet, you have to wait for Transport Scotland to tell you how to do it.

So that's 900,000 people needing issued with a new card before 31st January so they can get the bus for free. Oh but you can't apply in plenty of time, right now you can't apply at all.

young.scot/the-young-scot-card

I should have put this on the railing thread because I'm majorly ranty about it, but I thought more people might spot it this way.

*out

Also, considering this officially goes live on the 10th, they say to leave 10 days for processing, 4 weeks for delivery but the scheme goes live on the 31st it's safe to assume most applicants won't have their cards in time.

@unexpectedthird

Which is exactly why the timing of the whole thing is so shambolic Elieza! It is not the right time of year to try to roll this oiut considering that many of the applicants will need the cards for going to school.

Great to hear yours is approved Bratnews. 4 weeks is cutting it fine though. 🤞🏻 it arrives in time.

Why to they "need" a card to go to school, is their current way of getting to school being withdrawn?

They continue to use their current arrangements until they get the benefit of free travel when they receive their card. Are you suggesting they delay the whole scheme until later in the year so noone benefits sooner?

Not all high school kids get free transport.

For example, kids near where I live have been able to buy bus passes that last the whole term that are (substantially) cheaper than paying for return journeys. Obviously the bus companies are not doing that this term but there is a real concern that kids won't have passes until well in to Feb/March depending on how much of a backlog there is. There is a chance that the free bus travel will end up costing them as much, possibly even a bit more, than a normal term. At a time when costs are rising this is likely to have a big impact on families I work with.

The impacts of this absolutely should have been considered and the scheme delivered at a time it was able to be administered as efficiently as possible. I think the scheme is a great idea but the organisation of it leaves a lot to be desired.

Depends on your viewpoint I guess, you could argue it is great it is in plenty of time for next term/academic year. There would always be an overlap somewhere 🤷🏻‍♀️

We pay for our buses for the entire year on advance.

I thought the 31st Jan date had been confirmed quite a while ago, though. It's hardly a surprise that lots of children (quite rightly) will expect to be able to travel for free from that date as promised and as advertised. Just opening applications for cards to allow them to do that 20 days before the deadline, and saying, "oh, well, you'll get it at some point - you should be grateful - isn't it great its in plenty of time for next term" isn't really good enough. If they knew they couldn't sort out the logistics in time, they should have set the date for the end of Feb or whenever instead. If it's taken them by surprise - well, why?! It's not like Christmas and new year and covid are surprising things that couldn't possibly have been anticipated...

In fact - I've just noticed that the Scottish Government is now saying we should all be staying at home and we shouldn't want to travel unless essential until after the pandemic. So they are pausing the high profile marketing and asking that no-one applies unless its for essential travel! Hmmmm - have they noticed they can't fulfil their offer I wonder...

I applied for DSs pass about a week ago I think. i can check in this thread for the date. It has arrived today so hopefully everyone who has now applied should get theirs in good time for start of Feb.

Thats good! Ds applied same day as you, but later at night, He got an approved email on Saturday, so hopefully his will appear this week sometime. When did you get your approved email?

It’s just been on the stv news. So that will let people who are unaware about this know what’s happening.

No mention of any issues, just a short informative piece.

Just tried to do online application for my DS and it says his NEC number isn’t valid. So useful, ffs. I’m holding the valid card in my hand!

@WeAllHaveWings it was approved on Thursday.

DD applied for hers on the 4th and hasn't heard anything. I asked her to email the council yesterday asking if the application has been received but I'm not optimistic about hearing back. It's really outrageous that they are using the pandemic as an excuse for a botched roll-out of this. The comments around this on Twitter show that people are really annoyed about this. It's the whole 'just because you can, doesn't mean you should' thing again - but this time it's something that is a legal entitlement that people are being told not to avail themselves of.

SourWolf I've just had the same problem - says the young Scot card number is invalid. I have got round it by applying for a new card but using a photo of the old card for identification. You do however need the child's birth certificate as well as all your ID documents and a new photo. It's very annoying but at least it's complete now which is better than trying to use any of the methods offered for 'help'.

Ds got his new card in the post today Our other applications failed because of blurry photos of my driving licence, even though they seemed to have been accepted at the time, so we'll need to do those ones again.
But ds uses the bus the most so I'm glad his has come through.
Now we just have to wait till the big day and see if it works!

It's an awful application system. Saw mps bring that up yesterday before the covid briefing.

We still haven't got all the way through it. Been times out/kicked out etc. not sure how to get my youngest card either as he doesn't have a passport

And given that both my kids have a current young Scot card and the original applications were done within school it's ridiculous that we need a tonne of id just to add the bus pass entitlement

SG are using the line that it's for safety as they need to ensure parents give permission for their children to have access to the free bus travel, and that they had the right contact details, but I'm really not sure that justifies the extra info that is being requested and the way it's being requested.

To me they could have just said, email us if you want bus entitlement added to your card, and then issued a new card. Any update to contact details/photos etc could have been done then. For those with an existing card anyway, obviously they would have needed to do something different for younger children but again that could have been done locally through schools surely.

Still radio silence from our LA on DD's card which she applied for last Tuesday.

@TeenTraumaTrials

SG are using the line that it's for safety as they need to ensure parents give permission for their children to have access to the free bus travel, and that they had the right contact details, but I'm really not sure that justifies the extra info that is being requested and the way it's being requested.

To me they could have just said, email us if you want bus entitlement added to your card, and then issued a new card. Any update to contact details/photos etc could have been done then. For those with an existing card anyway, obviously they would have needed to do something different for younger children but again that could have been done locally through schools surely.

Still radio silence from our LA on DD's card which she applied for last Tuesday.

I agree. I totally understand they need parental permission however both of mine have cards already and I have to log in to my gov site to do the process so surely they don't need further Id checks on my children. It surely is just updating what's already there?

Nothing like the government taking something that should have been simple and making it far more complex than it needs to be

The safety argument seems a bit spurious to me. And in any case, why does a parent need to give permission for their child to travel free? Surely the right is attached to the child meeting the requirements, and shouldn't be subject to meeting the requirements AND having parental permission? The right to travel on a bus isn't tied to having parental permission, after all! Of course parents may not want their children having the freedom to jump on a bus willy nilly (for all sorts of reasons, many totally reasonable and valid and some, sadly, less so), but they can do that anyway, having begged, borrowed or stolen the bus fare. Paying a child fare, or having someone pay it for you is still going to be a way to travel (for children resident outside Scotland, lost or forgotten their card etc) so it's not that any child paying will be "flagged" as travelling in an unexpected way.

I think the plethora of ID is more to ensure that only Scottish residents get the free travel, and it isn't mistakenly offered to anyone who has moved out of scotland but still has a valid young scot card, or anyone claiming a card for visits to Scotland in the holidays or anything. But obviously, that doesn't sound as inclusive and caring as "safety reasons".

In good news, our card came through, so fingers crossed it works on The Day...

I can totally see the point of the safety argument. If they didn't point out to parents, the possible consequences of having the card, the first bairn that bus hops from Dumfries to Inverness is going to be the in the Daily Record with the sad faced parents saying they did not think this could happen and it is all the governments fault.

Fair point. Though if anyone can manage that on service buses on the current timetables before being noticed missing, fair play to them! I think at the moment most people would struggle to get across Edinburgh...

One of our local secondary schools (not ds's) sent an electronic form to all their parents last night to fill in and they will then request the cards for them. Possibly other schools will do the same at some point.

It does say you can also apply through getyournec.co.uk and that will be quicker. Says applications will be prioritised for those with essential journeys (but the form doesnt ask if your journey is essential so not sure how they work that out).

Also says the new card has a chip on it which they will tap on a card reader on the bus and the card reader will tell the driver if they are approved for free travel.

Ours seems to have been approved - I sent a query as to what was happening and received this:
Good Morning, thank you for contacting us. I have checked your application. It has been submitted, however, due to the number of applications submitted, applications are taking up to 10 working days to approve. I have, however, processed and approved your application as we are processing applications from the 4th of January at this time. Applications officially opened on 10th January, however, the product will not activate until 31st January. You will receive your cards as normal within the minimum of 14 days. Many thanks.

The other two secondary schools in our town have sent out electronic forms today and they will submit the applications.

Noticed this on the info attached -

The forms will be available on your child’s school website from Wednesday 12 January 2022. You or your child should only apply at this time if you require the card to make essential journeys from 31 January 2022. Applications received up to the 14 January 2022 will be processed immediately. Applications made after the 14 January 2022 will be included in the next phase and depending on COVID-19 mitigations we anticipate that these will be processed timeously.

So looks like anyone who has already applied, if approved, should get a card soon, but those who have not applied yet might be waiting a bit longer.

I got ds2's today. But I'm assuming it won't work on the bus yet.

His was a new application rather than a replacement card