Free Bus Travel Research Articles

The Impact of a Free Older Persons’ Bus Pass on Active Travel and Regular Walking in England

We assessed the potential public health benefit of the National Bus Pass, introduced in 2006, which permits free local bus travel for older adults (≥ 60 years) in England. We performed regression analyses with annual data from the 2005-2008 National Travel Survey. Models assessed associations between being a bus pass holder and active travel (walking, cycling, and use of public transport), use of buses, and walking 3 or more times per week. Having a free pass was significantly associated with greater active travel among both disadvantaged (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 4.06; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.35, 4.86; P < .001) and advantaged groups (AOR = 4.72; 95% CI = 3.99, 5.59; P < .001); greater bus use in both disadvantaged and advantaged groups (AOR = 7.03; 95% CI = 5.53, 8.94; P < .001 and AOR = 7.11; 95% CI = 5.65, 8.94; P < .001, respectively); and greater likelihood of walking more frequently in the whole cohort (AOR = 1.15; 95% CI = 1.07, 1.12; P < .001). Public subsidies enabling free bus travel for older persons may confer significant population health benefits through increased incidental physical activity.

OP35 The Health Impacts of Free Bus Travel for Young People in London

BackgroundInterventions in transport systems have potentially far-reaching impacts on public health, but can be challenging to evaluate. In 2005, young people in London gained access to free bus travel; an...

PS02 “We Can all just Get on a bus and Go”: Rethinking Independent Mobility in the Context of the Universal Provision of Free Bus Travel to Young Londoners

BackgroundRecent years have seen increasing attention to ‘independent mobility’ as a determinant of children’s physical health and psychosocial development. Previous research, however, largely frames independent mobility as a matter of...

OP36 A Cross-Sectional Assessment of the Effect of the Free Older Persons’ Bus Pass On Active Travel and Regular Walking Among Adults ≥60 Years in England Using Data from the National Travel Survey 2005-2008

BackgroundThe benefits of physical activity for all age groups is well-documented and there is increasing interest in the promotion of incidental physical activity, such as active transport, which includes walking,...

Rethinking passive transport: Bus fare exemptions and young people's wellbeing

Much recent public health research has emphasised the health impacts for young people of ‘active travel’ modes, typically defined as walking and cycling. Less research has focused on public transport modes. Drawing on qualitative data, we examine the links between bus travel and wellbeing in London, where young people currently have free bus travel. Our findings indicate that bus travel can be both a physically and socially active experience for young people. We suggest a more nuanced understanding of ‘active travel’ is now needed, alongside greater attention to urban public transport networks as key sites that impact on important determinants of wellbeing such as independent mobility and social inclusion.

The grey escape: investigating older people's use of the free bus pass

Since 2008 most older people in England have benefited from unlimited area-wide free travel by bus after the morning peak period. The official policy rhetoric supporting implementation of the measure drew significantly on the need to reduce social exclusion amongst older people. However, despite a substantial increase in the number of concessionary journeys in England and the associated cost liabilities for local authorities and possibly also operators, there is currently only limited understanding of the wide ranging effects on bus use of providing a free pass, and in particular to whom benefits from the policy accrue. In part, this circumstance results from a methodological focus by evaluation studies hitherto that has emphasised aggregate-level data, often at the expense of the very rich contextual information about how the individual benefits from using a pass. This article presents insights into the perceptions, motivations and decisions relating to use of free bus passes, highlighting the existence of both tangible and intangible benefits which arise. It offers a fresh insight into previously undefined uses and benefits derived from possessing and using a concessionary bus pass. This article concludes by noting possible policy implications of the research in the context of the UK's ageing population and for other international contexts where the transport intervention of free bus travel is being considered.

Free bus passes, use of public transport and obesity among older people in England

BackgroundAll residents of England aged 60 years and older became entitled to free travel on local buses on 1 April 2006. This study examines the impact of this policy on...

The Human Rights of Children

A few years ago The Guardian newspaper published an article by Julie Bindel entitled ‘Six Weeks of Suffering’. 1 She argued that school holidays should be cut in half because the presence of children in her space – streets, parks, museums, public transport, restaurants – offends her. Let me quote her: I live in an area where kids ( sic ) are routinely taken to proper restaurants for lunch, but I was here before it became Nappy Valley… There seems to be no escape this summer. Ken Livingstone 2 has made it easier for the little monsters to follow me around London by giving school children free bus travel… There they are, in the museums when you least expect them. Imagine The Guardian3 publishing an article which objected to black people in restaurants or gays in museums! This article was written by the founder of ‘Justice for Women’. You may find it telling that, espousing the position she does in relation to women, she could hold such views about children. You may also be discomforted by the publication of such an article in a liberal newspaper. But, of course, you may not. You may think, as the Canadian philosopher Harry Brighouse does, 4 that it is ‘strange’ to think of children as having rights. Or you may be concerned, as Bruce Hafen puts it, 5 that we are ‘abandoning’ children to their rights. The majority opinion is still, as the most influential of writers of the last generation expressed it, 6 that the only right that children have is to autonomous parents. 7 But if, like me, you are appalled by the sentiments in Bindel's article, you may also ask why such attitudes are still prevalent, even predominant. 8 And you may have noticed the new Equality Act 2010.

A call for greater flexibility in the use of public transport

This article, brought to you in association with Help the Aged, looks at the difficulties involved in using public transport for the older person. Help the Aged is calling for a flexible transport system which provides a free bus pass or travel tokens depending on what works for individuals.

Offer of Free Bus Travel in U.S.

Offer of Free Bus Travel in U.S.

American Association Offers 3 Months' Free Bus Travel in U.S.A.

American Association Offers 3 Months' Free Bus Travel in U.S.A.