Kids Go Free again on the West’s buses

 Kids Go Free returns on the region’s buses over the Christmas holidays.

Bristol-based celebrity chef and presenter Briony May Williams (2018 The Great British Bake Off semi-finalist and 2019 The Great Christmas Bake Off winner, Food Unwrapped and Escape to the Country presenter) joined the Mayor for a Love Actually inspired video on social media to promote the scheme.

Around 150,000 kids in Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire aged from 5-15 years old can benefit from free bus travel again this winter – just by hopping on board, with no bus pass or registration required. The return of the popular initiative, which runs from 20 December to 4 January, was announced earlier this month by regional political and tourism leaders at Bath’s world-famous Christmas Markets, which celebrate their 25^th anniversary this year with more than 250 stalls.

Over the seven weeks of the summer holidays, more than 910,000 free journeys saw almost £1 million was put back into the pockets of parents and carers through Kids Go Free. The top word used by people to describe the scheme was “money-saving”. Children’s journeys increased by 32% compared to 2024, with parents and carers across the region sharing how the scheme helped them do things they otherwise would not have been able to afford. For families usually unable to travel at all, this opened the door to the brilliant things that our region offers – in some cases for the first time ever.

Local visitor attractions and retail centres saw an uplift in footfall during that time. Radstock (+16.1%), Bath (+15.8%) Midsomer Norton (+14.4%), Yate and Chipping Sodbury (+12.2%) saw the largest increases in spending, and all also performed above the UK-average for August. Bristol BID data shows that non-essential spend (entertainment, hospitality etc) increased by 3.5% (almost £100,000) year-on-year, above the national average; Visit West-surveyed attractions in the city enjoyed their busiest post-pandemic July and almost got back to their 2021 peak level for August.

The return of Kids Go Free follows the publication of the region’s first child poverty action plan on Thursday (18 December). The Brigstow Institute at the University of Bristol and Room 13 Hareclive, who have long campaigned for free bus travel for children, are currently working with schools and youth groups, including in Hartcliffe and Barton Hill, to further understand the impact of Kids Go Free in more deprived communities. Short surveys are running over the festive period, for parents/carers, secondary-school-age, and primary-school-age children to share their experiences.

Kids Go Free is being funded using some of the £13.5 million Bus Grant funding secured from the Department for Transport by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.