Department for Transport evidence to the
Youth Transport Select Committee
1.
What is young people’s experience of public travel within their local area and their overall satisfaction with their current service including availability, feeling safe and cleanness?
1.1 The Department seeks to improve access to and safety on public transport, including for young people.
1.2 Children and young people share many of the concerns and criticisms of public transport expressed by adults. Issues that they face often relate to their transition from dependence to independence, with transport playing a key role at particular ‘trigger points’ (e.g. the move from primary to secondary school, and the move from education to employment). As they become older and transport use becomes a necessity their perceptions of it changes, with some of the keenest users becoming its sharpest critics.
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1.3 Trips to school are predominantly by private car and walking, for both primary and secondary age children. Where they use public transport, they criticise gaps in provision due to frequency, routes and timing of services. Young people who live in rural areas experience these privations to a greater degree.
Taxis and minicabs are used during unsocial hours.
1.4 Data from the National Travel Survey (NTS) 2 shows that education accounts for the majority of trips made by those aged 16 and under, making up 28% of trips.
1.5 Young people, particularly from non-car owning households, are heavily dependent on using buses to get to school or college, leisure facilities and work. The proportion of trips made by bus is highest among those aged
17-20, accounting for 14.9% of all trips in this age group.
3 A study by the
Department for Education (DfE) 4 records that 81% of young people find it easy to access information about public transport times in their area, while
92% feel confident using public transport.
1.6 Just over one in ten young people (11 per cent) rated the public transport facilities they could use in their area to get them to sixth form, college or training as “very bad” or “bad”. In contrast, exactly half (50 per cent) thought they were “good” or “very good”, while 39 per cent said they were
“average”.
1 http://www.crsp.ac.uk/downloads/publications/dft/evidence_base_review_mobility.pdf
2 http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/releases/national-travel-survey-2010/nts2010-06.pdf
3 http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/tables/nts0601.xls
4 https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-RR009
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1.7 For those young people over 16, only 2 per cent reported that a lack of availability of public transport had stopped them doing what they wanted to do after year 11, with the cost of transport being a much more significant barrier.
1.8 The majority of young people (92%) report that they feel safe using public transport in their area. Not many however perceive it to be a friendly environment where they are welcomed and their custom valued.
Transport operators recognise this and have undertaken initiatives to address not only c oncerns about young people’s behaviour on public transport but also to promote it as an attractive and safe mode of travel for them.
School Transport
1.9 Local authorities are responsible for providing local transport for school children, including ensuring that their travel experience is a safe one.
Children and young people attending rural schools are particularly vulnerable to a lack of safe routes.
1.10 DfT provides advice on children and young people’s road safety, based on the Green Cross Code. This covers safe attitudes when on the road - avoiding distractions from friends and mobile phones, and not taking risks.
These issues are also discussed in the Department’s Think! Education material. Specific policy on safe routes to school is the responsibility of
DfE.
Road Safety
1.11 Britain has a good road safety record overall, but our performance on child pedestrian deaths compares less well with other countries. In 2010,
6% of children had been involved in a road accident in the last 3 years, of whom 1% had been injured.
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1.12 In 2010, the number of children aged 0-15 killed or seriously injured
(KSI) on the roads in Great Britain was 2,502, of whom 55 were killed.
These figures represent reductions of 64% in serious injuries and 79% in deaths from the 1994-98 average. Nearly two thirds of those killed and seriously injured were pedestrians. Pedal cyclists and car occupants each made up around a sixth of those killed and seriously injured. Almost half of all child KSIs are aged 11 –15 and casualty rates in this age group are much higher than for younger children.
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NTS stats: http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/releases/national-travel-survey-2010/nts2010-
06.pdf
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1.13 Engineering measures, especially 20mph schemes, and enforcement measures, such as speed cameras, have been shown to benefit all road users and especially children.
Buses
1.14 Young people generally feel that bus travel is safe and secure, although they do acknowledge that travelling at night could expose them to other people who are drunk and/or exhibiting ‘loud laddish behaviour’ . CCTV is considered a major contributor to feeling safe although not considered enough on its own to ensure personal safety. Young people also acknowledge that the presence of CCTV affects their own behaviour:
“You do behave yourself better knowing they have cameras all over the place including on the buses.”
1.15 Feelings of safety can be affected by the poor condition of buses where these are dirty, littered or vandalised, as can poor behaviour especially on school buses.
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1.16 The Department is aware of the concerns that both young people and their parents have about the problems of bullying and other anti-social behaviour on the journey to and from school. A guidance document published by DfE in 2009,
‘Safe from bullying on journeys’, outlines the possible bullying that might occur and describes steps to prevent it and how to respond to it effectively. It is available on the DfT website at http://abatoolsforschools.org.uk/pdf/Safe_from_Bullying-Journeys.pdf
Railways
1.17 Britain’s performance on safety on the rail network is good, with the
Office of Rail Regulation acknowledging that Britain ’s railways are not only safe, but one of the safest in Europe. Fatalities to children are relatively rare. Since 2001/02 around 5% of all the accidental fatalities to members of the public have involved persons under the age of 16. The majority of these have involved boys who were trespassing. Network Rail takes issues such as youth trespass very seriously and has run a number of community safety programs specifically aimed at children and teenagers to advise on the dangers of misusing the railways.
1.18 Passenger Focus have found that school children and male students are particularly worried about the possibility of being assaulted on the railway.
DfT has developed a number of initiatives to improve personal security at rail stations and on board trains, including the Secure Stations Scheme, and the National Station Improvement Programme that addresses passenger safety concerns by designing out crime
6 Department for Transport, United Kingdom, Young people and transport: their needs and requirements, September, 2006
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Taxis
1.19 Young people responding to questions about safety when using taxis felt that a programme of publicity and ‘ safe use initiatives
’ targeted at younger users, together with “ a 24 hour hotline for complaints ”, would help reduce the potential for taxi drivers to commit crimes.
2 The affordability of fares for all young people (children and students) regardless of where they live.
2.1 The majority of bus services are run as commercial ventures and
Government does not dictate pricing structures. Discounts are a matter for the bus operators and, where buses are subsidised, local authorities decide pricing policies.
2.2 Research suggests that transport costs for younger children are mainly met by parents, who spend around
£360 for each child a year, mainly for travel to school. But affordability has been found to be a barrier for older children and young people. The UK Youth Parliament report that half of young people think public transport is too expensive, and 83% say they would use it more if it were cheaper.
2.3 Young people have criticised what they see as the random nature of fares imposed by different operators:
“A ten minute ride is just as expensive as a long ride to neighbouring towns.”
“The First bus from my house to town was 50p then 55 then 70 then
80 it’s now £1.20 and that’s in a year.”
2.4 Some young people find the boundaries between youth and adult charging regimes confusing and potentially discriminatory. A key problem is that while they often have documents to prove that they are over 18, there are few proof of age schemes that provide evidence that a person is under 16.
Young men in particular feel that bus driver attitudes towards them exacerbate this problem, with many having to pay a full fare because they are unable to prove their age. They also question the fairness of operator policies that enforce the full adult fare after a certain time, such as after
7.00pm:
“I was 14 with no ID and had to pay full fare, the driver was so rude.”
“The bus was late so by the time it came it was gone seven and I had to pay full fare.”
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2.5 DfE has announced a £180m discretionary fund to support 16-19 year olds in full-time education. The 16-19 Bursary Fund has the flexibility to help meet transport costs for individual students, where those costs had been identified as a real barrier to participation in education.
2.6 DfT is providing funding towards school travel costs through the Local
Sustainable Transport Fund. In 2011-12, this includes transitional funding for links to school, Bike Club and walking to school projects. From 2012-
13 all funding will go direct to LSTF authorities, at least 20 of which are undertaking school focussed activities.
2.7 Jobcentre Plus can offer a range of transport support, such as covering the cost of a jobseeker’s essential transport – for example, travel to training and interviews.
2.8 Taxis are seen as an expensive but at times necessary option.
3 The effectiveness of current concessionary fares schemes and local regional initiatives across the UK to enable young people (aged 18 and under) to access use of services and opportunities, such as education, training or leisure facilities.
Buses
3.1 Many bus operators offer reduced fares and discounted tickets on a commercial basis. In addition, 25 out of the 89 Travel Concession
Authorities offer concessionary bus travel schemes for young people too.
All the Integrated Transport Authorities and London offer bus concessions to young people.
3.2 However, the lack of consistency of concessionary fare schemes, and the fact that these may not apply to young people who are not in full time education, together with the complexity of commercially provided fare structures for public transport, have created confusion and prompted criticism of the industry. Young people have raised two specific issues of concern:

the low awareness amongst young people of the discounts available;
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the wide variety of ID cards used to prove entitlement and the difficulty this can cause young bus users and bus drivers.
3.3 DfE and DfT have acknowledged that information for young people about what fares/discounts are available could be better co-ordinated.
3.4 DfE have also recognised the need to look at existing financial support arrangements as they move towards raising the participation age. They have no current plans to make the provision of subsidised transport a mandatory requirement for all young people of sixth form age in education or training.
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Railways
3.5 Young people have generous and consistent discounts available to them on rail services. The 16-25 young persons railcard is widely used and approved and gives 1/3 off most rail fares throughout Great Britain, including all Standard and First Class Advance fares, for an annual fee of
£28. Children aged 5 to 15 inclusive get a 50% discount on most rail tickets.
4. The accessibility and availability of transport services for disabled young people and those that live in rural communities.
4.1 Research has shown that people with mobility difficulties travel less than people without them, 7 while young people with learning difficulties or disabilities are noticeably less likely than other young people to have confidence in using public transport and working out the times of buses and trains. They are also less likely to feel safe travelling on public transport in their areas than others.
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4.2 The Government recognises that transport enables young disabled people to live independent lives and a great deal has been achieved in recent years to improve the accessibility of transport infrastructure and services and remove the barriers that prevent disabled people from using public transport. The percentage of disabled people experiencing difficulty using transport has decreased from 25% in 2005 to 22% in
2009, for instance.
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4.3 Nationally, w e have ‘end dates’ (from 2015 to 2020) by which buses and coaches designed to carry more than 22 passengers on local services are accessible. Currently, 61% of buses (100% in London) meet regulatory requirements and 89% are low floor.
4.4 A similar end date (2020) exists for rail vehicles. Already, over 6,600 carriages meet modern access requirements, with all new rail vehicles having Passenger Information Systems, priority seating, contrasting handrails, wheelchair spaces and (where provided) toilets that are accessible to wheelchair users. 46% of trains already meet these requirements. We have also introduced the ‘Access for All’ programme which aims to make 153 priority rail stations obstacle and step-free by
2015. There will also be other improvements at more than 100 stations
(e.g. accessible toilets, platform edge tactile paving and easier access humps on 100 platforms to reduce stepping distance).
7 http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/tables/nts0622.xls
8 https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-RR009
9 http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/tables/nts0622.xls
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Rural Accessibility
4.5 The availability of public transport is significantly more likely to be reported as a barrier or constraint by those living in rural locations, and young people who cannot drive are often isolated or lack access beyond core service times. Services may be more expensive as they are less frequently used, and fares reflect the longer distances travelled to reach facilities.
4.6 DfT has produced statistics on the accessibility of key services using public transport.
10 The 2010 statistics show that people in rural areas could access key services by public transport and / or walking in 21 minutes on average. This is longer than the 12 minute average for those in urban areas. The percentage of users in rural areas who could access key services by public transport and/or walking within a ‘reasonable’ time varied according to the service. For instance:
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Employment – 75% rural; 83% urban
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Primary school – 40% rural; 45% urban
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Secondary school – 39% rural; 53% urban
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Further education – 49% rural; 65% urban
4.7 Young people living in rural areas have concerns about the differing concessionary fare schemes, not necessarily related to the level of fare, but rather fairness and inconvenience.
5. The current training public transport staff receive in regards to young people and their needs as a customer.
5.1 A key concern found in Departmental research looking at young people and crime on public transport was the sometimes fraught relationship between young people and transport personnel. Young people feel that there is a poor standard of customer care within transport provision.
They cite examples ranging from outright rudeness to insensitive treatment.
5.2 S taff attitudes can play a large part in passengers’ ability and willingness to travel. We are therefore seeking to ensure that transport staff have the appropriate training to help people, and that passengers can travel in a safe environment.
5.3 Since September 2008 all professional bus and coach drivers have been required to hold a Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC). The
Driver CPC seeks to improve the knowledge and skills of bus drivers and the training syllabus covers a variety of areas including road safety, driver awareness and passenger awareness.
10 http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/accessibility/
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5.4 Disability Awareness Training is available as part of the periodic CPC training syllabus and the training materials can be obtained free of charge from the Go Skills website.
5.5 On the rail network all customer facing staff are required to receive disability awareness training as detailed in each train operating company's Disabled Persons' Protection Policy.
6. Recommendations on a code of practice for youth using public transport.
6.1 Any development of a specific code of practice for young people would be for transport operators to agree.
6.2 DfT has recently endorsed the publication of two guides for young people on using buses: ‘How to make buses better – a guide for young people’ and ‘Working with young people to make buses better – a guide for the bus sector’. Both guides showcase a range of principles and solutions, with a central theme being the involvement of young people working with local transport providers to develop local solutions. The guides can be located at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/topics/public-transport/buses
7. Which low carbon approaches are being used locally to enable young people to travel.
Wheels to Work schemes
7.1 Wheels to Work schemes provide affordable transport solutions, such as motor scooters, to enable access to employment, training and education.
We know that some schemes are struggling as a result of reduced funding, which is why DfT is looking at how we can help them develop more sustainable business plans.
Bikeability
7.2
‘Bikeability is 'cycling proficiency' for the 21st Century. It gives young people the skills and confidence to cycle safely and well in modern road conditions.
7.3 DfT has made funding of £11m per financial year available until 31 st
March 2015. In addition, a further £700k will be made available in
2013/14 and £1.3m in 2014/15 to support expanded training delivery.
7.4 Research has demonstrated that Bikeability training is rated very highly by both parents and children. Children see cycling as fun and exciting and those who have taken part in the scheme feel safer and more confident when riding on the road.
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