Gloucestershire: Free bus travel for young people in August

Young people can access four services for free

Free bus travel is being offered to young people in a town to help with the rising cost of living.

Newent Community Transport and Buses4Us have teamed up to offer it to under-16s in the Newent area, in Gloucestershire, throughout August.

There are four scheduled bus services in the area which will give young people the opportunity to travel as far as Gloucester or Ledbury at no cost.

"We hope to give them more freedom," said Tim Rosser from Buses4Us.

"We're very aware that in rural communities like ours young people can get to feel quite isolated, not seeing their school friends for weeks at a time during the holidays.

"Many people think that Community Transport is just for older people, but it's not, it's for anyone who doesn't drive or have access to a car. Which of course is all our under-16s."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the bus services also gave young people from villages like Dymock, Highleadon, Gorsley and Tibberton the chance to come into Newent.

Newent Community Transport Manager Lyndon Biddle said: "We are aware of how tough things are for many families at the moment, and how expensive school holidays can be, so we wanted to do what we could to help."