Free bus travel scheme for under-18s begins

Bus travel for young people is now free as part of a two-year council pilot scheme

A scheme to provide free bus travel for under-18s has begun.

Young people living in Barnsley who are aged between five and 18 will be able to claim free transport for all journeys within South Yorkshire that start or end in the borough.

The scheme will be active between 07:00 - 21:00 (BST) - including during weekends and school holidays.

They will need to present a free Barnsley MiCard upon boarding the bus, which can be applied for online or via post.

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has committed up to £1m to the initiative, with Barnsley Council contributing £5m.

The two-year scheme will be trialled until August 2026.

Under-fives will continue to be allowed to travel free of charge.

Barnsley College course leader Carly Hambleton said poorer students sometimes skipped college to save money

Carly Hambleton, a course leader at Barnsley College, said the scheme would help boost attendance.

She said the college already offered free transport to students, but the free buses could be overcrowded and did not travel to every area in the town.

She added that money for travel was transferred directly to students' bank accounts, and those from lower income background sometimes gave this to their families to help with living costs.

"They choose to eat or put the gas and electric on, rather than pay for their bus to college, so then their attendance goes down, and that impacts their grades and options for university."

She also said it would benefit her own children when they stayed with their father, who did not drive.

He had used taxis when they travelled, she said, because it was cheaper than using the bus.

Young people in the town said they would be more likely to take the bus under the scheme

Parent Stephanie Brown, 34, said she had "tended to stay at home more often than not" with her children to save money on bus fares, which was "frustrating" during school holidays.

She said travelling would be "much easier" under the scheme.

Fellow parent Rebecca Derbyshire, 39, said her teenage son struggled to get into town because they lived "seven or eight miles away", but he could now be more independent and take the bus instead of asking for a lift.

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