>The Scottish Greens have unveiled an ambitious plan to provide free bus travel for everyone under the age of 30.
>They want the upcoming Holyrood budget to include the pledge, which would build on the current regime of free bus travel for under-22s.
>
>The party says extending the scheme would provide 500,000 more people with free travel, “opening up new opportunities to find work, education opportunities and to see more of Scotland”.
>Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer noted that the current scheme had been a “huge success”.
>He said: “Hundreds of thousands of young people are saving money, finding new opportunities, and helping to tackle the climate crisis.
>“This scheme is one of the clearest achievements of the Scottish Parliament. Families across the country have saved thousands of pounds in a period when bills and other costs have otherwise soared.”
>The under-22 free bus scheme came into force in January 2022, as a result of the SNP-Green joint budget.
>Now, with the SNP clinging onto a minority government following the collapse of the Bute House Agreement in 2024, the support of the Greens will be essential in passing the upcoming budget.
>Greer went on to say: “The cost-of-living crisis doesn’t stop for people the day they turn 22. For many young people the impact of losing their bus pass is huge, with new travel costs eating into their budgets.”
>“Too many workers in their 20s are trapped in a cycle of ever-rising costs and insecure work, with far too many struggling to cover their rent and bills every month.
>“Lowering the cost of public transport is a win-win for people and planet. That’s why the Scottish Greens are pushing for more people to get a free bus pass as soon as possible.”
>Currently those who are younger than 22, older than 60, or have a disability are eligible for the free bus travel scheme.
This sounds like a really good policy, but there is a key problem that the national media will quickly pick up on and centre in all their coverage for years:
* It doesn’t extend to me, u/safetystartshere
Oh why not do it for everyone? Why just buses and not trains if you don’t have buses near you?
And how is this going to be paid? More tax and/or buses companies out the cost up a little for others
Happy to contribute more in tax to help others get around. Equally happy to contribute more in tax if this scheme was extended to include everyone.
I support free public transport for all but makes sense to take it step by step.
The Scottish Greens get a bad rep but they’re so much better than the E/W party
Ffs I support this but they’re constantly giving it to the groups that I’m just moving out of.
Not going to complain about this policy but I would prefer if we could bring in something like the Deutschland-Ticket which extends to everyone and over multiple public transport methods.
Support this but if this ends up being implemented the second I age out of the relavant group again, gonny lose my mind
They are seriously nuts.
Why under 30’s. So under 30’s get free bus pass and over 60’s get it, does everyone get magically rich at 30 and lost all of their money at 60!!!
To be honest this just smacks of a shameless appeal to the demographic most likely to vote for them, like when the Tories talk about tax cuts and the squeezed middle classes!
If there is an argument for making it free, which I am not convinced there is, make it free for everyone.
Someone always pays, and it is never free. I believe in cheap affordable transportation for all, not free, but affordable.
Simply put, we need investment in our travel infrastructure and active encouragement of people to use it. If we can lower fares, and improve the service, more people will use it.
There are no perfect solutions though.
I’m all for this as I think all public services should be treated as investment.
However, a thought I keep thinking is, what if we charged a flat ÂŁ1 fee for everything? Such as prescriptions, ÂŁ1. Bus rides, ÂŁ1. Train rides ÂŁ1.
This might be completely daft but to me it makes sense to keep at least a wee bit of direct money flowing through the services.
I’d rather everyone for cheaper bus travel – sorry but I’m kinda sick of forking out ÂŁ60pcm on what isn’t a great wage. Meanwhile every pet group or latest social justice subject – gets free bus travel.
Nice – but think they need to focus on nursery provision and social care. Expanding help in those areas will probably benefit more people.
It’s great how people can get access to things like bus travel and even dental treatment for free, but it’s frustrating paying taxes for other people to get this stuff for free then myself (after having paid for others to get it) then have to also pay out my own pocket
How about all tax payers get things like bus travel and dental treatment since we’re already paying for others to get it
squeeze the paye pigs
I would gladly pay an extra 1% tax if it gave everyone unlimited bus travel for the whole of Scotland.
We’ve got finite resources and it’s hard for me to think this is a priority. If the goal is better outcomes for young people then we need to fix our underfunded and badly managed education system. If the goal is better public transport then I’d rather improve frequency and reliability than subsidise fares.
There are a lot of wealthy 28 year olds and there are lot of poor 30-59 year olds. Do some thinking here.
It’s sad that young adults in their working age years are still so impoverished the government has to consider offering state support.
Our parents were buying family homes in their 20s and we’re wondering how we’re going to afford the bus.
Fuck off sick fed up subsiding adults for shit they can pay for themselves.
I disagree with this.
Take the money it would cost to implement this then use it to subsidise public transport across the board for lower prices instead of aiming at specific groups. Rural transport is ridiculous and expensive. I’m about 20min drive from Glasgow and it takes 2hrs by bus then train and costs the earth.
So no to specific age groups, yes to reducing fares across the board.
23 comments
>The Scottish Greens have unveiled an ambitious plan to provide free bus travel for everyone under the age of 30.
>They want the upcoming Holyrood budget to include the pledge, which would build on the current regime of free bus travel for under-22s.
>
>The party says extending the scheme would provide 500,000 more people with free travel, “opening up new opportunities to find work, education opportunities and to see more of Scotland”.
>Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer noted that the current scheme had been a “huge success”.
>He said: “Hundreds of thousands of young people are saving money, finding new opportunities, and helping to tackle the climate crisis.
>“This scheme is one of the clearest achievements of the Scottish Parliament. Families across the country have saved thousands of pounds in a period when bills and other costs have otherwise soared.”
>The under-22 free bus scheme came into force in January 2022, as a result of the SNP-Green joint budget.
>Now, with the SNP clinging onto a minority government following the collapse of the Bute House Agreement in 2024, the support of the Greens will be essential in passing the upcoming budget.
>Greer went on to say: “The cost-of-living crisis doesn’t stop for people the day they turn 22. For many young people the impact of losing their bus pass is huge, with new travel costs eating into their budgets.”
>“Too many workers in their 20s are trapped in a cycle of ever-rising costs and insecure work, with far too many struggling to cover their rent and bills every month.
>“Lowering the cost of public transport is a win-win for people and planet. That’s why the Scottish Greens are pushing for more people to get a free bus pass as soon as possible.”
>Currently those who are younger than 22, older than 60, or have a disability are eligible for the free bus travel scheme.
This sounds like a really good policy, but there is a key problem that the national media will quickly pick up on and centre in all their coverage for years:
* It doesn’t extend to me, u/safetystartshere
Oh why not do it for everyone? Why just buses and not trains if you don’t have buses near you?
And how is this going to be paid? More tax and/or buses companies out the cost up a little for others
Happy to contribute more in tax to help others get around. Equally happy to contribute more in tax if this scheme was extended to include everyone.
I support free public transport for all but makes sense to take it step by step.
The Scottish Greens get a bad rep but they’re so much better than the E/W party
Ffs I support this but they’re constantly giving it to the groups that I’m just moving out of.
Not going to complain about this policy but I would prefer if we could bring in something like the Deutschland-Ticket which extends to everyone and over multiple public transport methods.
Support this but if this ends up being implemented the second I age out of the relavant group again, gonny lose my mind
They are seriously nuts.
Why under 30’s. So under 30’s get free bus pass and over 60’s get it, does everyone get magically rich at 30 and lost all of their money at 60!!!
To be honest this just smacks of a shameless appeal to the demographic most likely to vote for them, like when the Tories talk about tax cuts and the squeezed middle classes!
If there is an argument for making it free, which I am not convinced there is, make it free for everyone.
Someone always pays, and it is never free. I believe in cheap affordable transportation for all, not free, but affordable.
Simply put, we need investment in our travel infrastructure and active encouragement of people to use it. If we can lower fares, and improve the service, more people will use it.
There are no perfect solutions though.
I’m all for this as I think all public services should be treated as investment.
However, a thought I keep thinking is, what if we charged a flat ÂŁ1 fee for everything? Such as prescriptions, ÂŁ1. Bus rides, ÂŁ1. Train rides ÂŁ1.
This might be completely daft but to me it makes sense to keep at least a wee bit of direct money flowing through the services.
I’d rather everyone for cheaper bus travel – sorry but I’m kinda sick of forking out ÂŁ60pcm on what isn’t a great wage. Meanwhile every pet group or latest social justice subject – gets free bus travel.
Nice – but think they need to focus on nursery provision and social care. Expanding help in those areas will probably benefit more people.
It’s great how people can get access to things like bus travel and even dental treatment for free, but it’s frustrating paying taxes for other people to get this stuff for free then myself (after having paid for others to get it) then have to also pay out my own pocket
How about all tax payers get things like bus travel and dental treatment since we’re already paying for others to get it
squeeze the paye pigs
I would gladly pay an extra 1% tax if it gave everyone unlimited bus travel for the whole of Scotland.
We’ve got finite resources and it’s hard for me to think this is a priority. If the goal is better outcomes for young people then we need to fix our underfunded and badly managed education system. If the goal is better public transport then I’d rather improve frequency and reliability than subsidise fares.
There are a lot of wealthy 28 year olds and there are lot of poor 30-59 year olds. Do some thinking here.
It’s sad that young adults in their working age years are still so impoverished the government has to consider offering state support.
Our parents were buying family homes in their 20s and we’re wondering how we’re going to afford the bus.
Fuck off sick fed up subsiding adults for shit they can pay for themselves.
I disagree with this.
Take the money it would cost to implement this then use it to subsidise public transport across the board for lower prices instead of aiming at specific groups. Rural transport is ridiculous and expensive. I’m about 20min drive from Glasgow and it takes 2hrs by bus then train and costs the earth.
So no to specific age groups, yes to reducing fares across the board.
Isn’t that age discrimination?
Who can’t afford a bus in their 20s?
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