Capital’s free youth travel lives on

Governance

All Under-18s in London will continue to receive free travel on Transport for London services during September, as talks about the policy’s future drag on between the Government and TfL. 

The Government proposed suspending free youth travel as part of  the Covid-19 funding deal for TfL announced in May (LTT 29 May). Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the suspension would be “subject to discussions about how it is operationalised”.

London mayor Sadiq Khan urged Shapps to rethink and pointed to technical constraints on how quickly changes could be implemented (LTT 12 Jun).

The Government is believed to have wanted the change implemented in September. But TfL said this week it was continuing to work with the Government “on how and when any suspension of free travel for Under 18s could take effect”.

TfL will fund hundreds of school buses to ease pressure on bus routes when schools and colleges return next month.