| Defending free travel for under 18s in London |
| 15/02/2007 |
| Today (Wednesday), I went along to the demo outside City Hall to protect free bus and tram travel in London for under 18s. The rally came after two weeks of intensive lobbying by the TUC, trades unions in London, NUS and students’ unions, young people’s campaign groups, charities and arts groups. This was necessary because the Tory’s had tabled an amendment that would have abolished free travel for young people from the Mayor of London’s budget.
Thankfully the London Assembly voted this afternoon, to retain the existing fares concession that allows London’s under 18s, who are in full-time education, free use of buses and trams in the capital – for now we have won! The demo involved lots of groups – importantly to me the National Union of Teachers (NUT) - but also there were UCU, T&G, Unison and the British Youth Council.
Free travel for under 11’s was introduced in 2004, the following year it was increased to include under 16s and only September last year was it extended again to those under 18 in full time education – now 385,000 young Londoners benefit from this scheme. It is my view that free travel for under 18s has been brilliant at increasing the social mobility of young people and students in London. It has facilitated their attendance at college, better opportunities for decent work and access to a wider pool of sporting and leisure facilities in the capital. The British Youth Council, the UK Youth Parliament and other groups have cited the scheme as best practice & continue to campaign for its’ implementation across the UK. Links to other organisations pages:
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