Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to conduct a pilot programme of free bus travel for under 25 year olds.

Previous initial analysis estimated that providing free travel on buses for 16-18 –year-olds across England (outside London) would cost around £500m per year. The population of 16–18-year-olds in England outside London is 1.6 million per the 2021 Census, whereas the respective population of 16–25-year-olds is 5.6 million. The Government currently has no plans to progress this suggestion.

We have taken broader action to make fares more affordable. We are investing in the bus sector to deliver the ambitions of the National Bus Strategy to make bus services more reliable and cheaper. We have allocated over £1 billion of funding for English Local Transport Authorities outside London to support the delivery of Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP), of which funding can be used to introduce measures which reduce bus fares for under 25s. For example, we recently confirmed £45.6 million funding for the North East and North of Tyne Combined Authorities to deliver their BSIP, in addition to the initial investment of £117.8 million. Thanks to this funding, Transport North East has launched a £1 fare for the under 22s and the North East Joint Transport Committee agreed to provide free travel passes for 18 to 25 year old care-experienced people.