Arriva offers free evening, weekend and holiday travel to KCC Young Person's Travel Pass holders

Youngsters with a travel pass issued by Kent County Council can now travel for free on Arriva buses during evenings and weekends.

Children with a KCC Young Person’s Travel Pass (YPTP) can now use the operator's buses without charge outside of the normal Monday to Friday peak times from 6am to 7pm.

The initiative launched on Sunday

Arriva is extending its travel times for children with a KCC travel pass
Arriva is extending its travel times for children with a KCC travel pass

KCC cabinet member for planning, highways, transport and waste Mike Whiting welcomed the move, which he said would give young people greater independence.

He said: “This is great news for children who have the travel pass as it means they’ll be able to get out independently during the summer holidays and at the weekends.

“It is great to see the hard work of our officers and Arriva has allowed this to happen and provide new travel opportunities to the communities they operate in.

“I believe the travel pass remains one of the most generous schemes outside of London and represents a huge saving over paying the fare direct to the operator.”

Cllr Mike Whiting
Cllr Mike Whiting

Kent County Council provides £8.5 million to the scheme each year and the new extended benefits have been introduced, it says, at no additional cost to the council.

The Young Persons’ Travel Pass is an entirely discretionary scheme, with KCC receiving no government funding.

It currently provides journeys for about 24,000 youngsters across the county.

Stagecoach, which operates bus services predominately in the east of the county, already allows YPTP users access to its buses in the evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Share this story

Helpful links

Local news