Almost two years on and still 300,000 missing out on free bus travel

Scottish Liberal Democrats have today revealed that more than 300,000 young people are still missing out on bus passes despite the Scottish Government introducing free bus travel for under 22s almost two years ago and spending at least £1m on marketing to promote the scheme.    

Parliamentary questions submitted by the party show that 701,696 young people had taken up the pass by the end of October. This is 306,501 fewer than the total number of eligible young people.    

The Young Person’s Free Bus Travel scheme opened for applications from 10 January 2022 and by the end of the year, the Scottish Government had already spent £1,137,131 marketing the scheme.    

Transport spokesperson Jill Reilly said:    

“Despite the government spending more than £1 million to drive uptake of free bus passes, almost two years since the scheme was introduced and more than a third of young people have been unable to take advantage.

“This is another striking example of the Scottish Government’s interest in fanfare rather than delivery. It extended bus passes with one hand, while with the other it took away support from bus operators already struggling with driver shortages and surging costs.

“On top of this, the administrative hurdles involved in signing up for this scheme are needlessly convoluted. Throwing money at PR won’t work if the SNP can’t get the foundations right.

"Getting people onto buses is a good way to reduce pollution from private cars and enable them to see more of our country.  

“Scottish Liberal Democrats would put communities in charge of when and where buses go by adopting the Transport for London model. We would also expand the under-22 free travel scheme to include ferries, making the scheme fair for young people in the islands who depend on these services every day.

“All of this would meaningfully empower communities with better infrastructure and ensure that services are both frequent and reliable.”