50% more passengers: Kids Go Free 182,000 times over Christmas/New Year

January marks a milestone for Kids Go Free, the popular regional offer providing free bus travel for under-16s in the West, with nearly 1.1 million free journeys now taken in total.

Kids Go Free returned for the Christmas school holidays between 20 December and 4 January, with 182,351 free journeys taken despite bank holidays and reduced services during the festive period: enough passengers to fill over 2,200 green double-decker buses at once! This represents an increase of around 50% compared to the same period in 2024/25.

Families across the West have already saved around £1.1 million through Kids Go Free. For families usually unable to travel at all, it has opened the door to the brilliant things that our region offers – in some cases for the first ever time.

The return of Kids Go Free followed the publication of the region’s first child poverty action plan on 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 until the end of January, for parents/carers, secondary-school-age, and primary-school-age children to share their experiences from the festive period.

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

Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said:

“Kids Go Free has proven extraordinarily popular – with 50% more journeys over the recent Christmas holidays than for the same time in 2024, which is even better than the increase in children’s journeys that we saw during the summer.

“With more than £1.1 million put back into families’ pockets during the nine weeks of the offer so far, this is also an important intervention to help tackle the cost of living. I’m proud that together we have opened up more of our wonderful region for more of our young people thanks to free bus travel.”

Councillor Kevin Guy, Deputy Mayor and Leader of Bath & North East Somerset Council, said:

“It was great to launch the winter offer in Bath during the Christmas Market. It’s proved to be a great success and the offer demonstrates just how sustainable travel can deliver real benefits for residents, businesses and the environment.”

Councillor Tony Dyer, Leader of Bristol City Council, said:

“It’s great to see the continued success of the Kids Go Free initiative and the difference it has made for Bristol families over the busy festive period. This jump in passenger numbers not only shows how valuable this offer has been in helping young people travel around the region but also underlines the importance of continued investment to create a reliable, efficient and economical bus network for the people of Bristol.

“We’re proud to work with the Mayoral Combined Authority and our partners to make travel more affordable and accessible, and we look forward to building on this success to create even more ways for people to move around our city and region sustainably.”

Councillor Hugh Malyan, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport at North Somerset Council, said:

“The Christmas free travel offer proved that removing cost barriers can significantly increase public transport use among families. It helped children build confidence using buses, supported parents at a busy time of year, and encouraged more sustainable travel choices.”

Councillor Maggie Tyrrell, Leader of South Gloucestershire Council, said:

“We’re pleased to see an increase in bus journeys over the festive period and that children have benefitted from this initiative. Our ambition is for sustainable transport to be accessible to everyone, and we support initiatives that provide people with more travel options.”

Rob Pymm, Commercial Director for First Bus in the West of England, said:

“Our drivers did a great job, as always, in supporting customers to travel over the festive period. We were delighted to support this scheme and help encourage more people to love and use the bus.”

In December, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said:

“I’m delighted to see the return of Kids Go Free across the West of England this Christmas, building on the huge success of the summer scheme which delivered hundreds of thousands of free journeys and saved families almost £1 million – all thanks to Government funding.

“By making bus travel free for young people, we’re creating better-connected communities and supporting families with the cost of living. We’re not only easing the burden on households during an expensive time of year, but we’re also encouraging the next generation to use the bus.”

Kids Go Free first ran during the summer school holidays, with over 910,000 free journeys during those seven weeks. 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.

Local visitor attractions and retail centres saw an uplift in footfall during the summer. Radstock (+16.1%), Bath (+15.8%) Midsomer Norton (+14.4%), Yate and Chipping Sodbury (+12.2%) saw the largest increases in spending in July, 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.

Around 150,000 kids in Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire aged from 5-15 years old have been eligible for free bus travel during the two offers – just by hopping on board, with no bus pass or registration required.

Child fares in the West remain among the cheapest in country: capped at £1. Children under five years of age already travel for free on the majority of services in the West of England.

Original press release by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority