Costs incurred from the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme: FOI release

Information requested

The total cost taken up by government, regarding the number of young people who have been issued with free travel passes for public transport, August 2023, September 2023, October 2023, November 2023 and total cost in years prior to dates above:

• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019

Response

Due to our reporting cycle we cannot provide costs specifically only covering the individual months you have requested. However, we can provide costs covering a period that includes these months. All costs for previous years are provided per financial year (April 1 to March 31 the following year), in line with our reporting cycles.

Please note that these costs are the totals regarding the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme for those aged 5 to 21. This is comprised of reimbursements made to operators, set up and ongoing operational costs. Please also note that the scheme launched on 31 January 2022, so reimbursements were only incurred from that point on.

The costs were:

• For August, September, October and November 2023, we can provide the costs covering Quarters 2 and 3 of the 2023/24 financial year. Specifically this covers the date range 26 June 2023 to 10 December 2023. The cost was £78,343,428.91.
• 2022/23 - £108,206,005.18
• 2021/22 - £9,804,448.55
• 2020/21 - £820,168
• 2019/20 - £440,000

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.