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Citizens Cymru Wales celebrate £1 bus fares for all children and young people in Wales

Citizens Cymru Wales celebrate £1 bus fares for all children and young people in Wales

Following months of putting pressure on members of the Senedd and the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Citizens Cymru Wales celebrated this huge win, which will see younger children aged five to 15 join 16–21-year-olds in the Welsh Government’s £1 youth bus fare pilot scheme.

The Citizens Cymru campaign for fairer bus fares was born out of a campaign that Cathays High School, supported by Cardiff Business School Society and Economy students, local Councillors in Butetown, Grangetown and Cathays, have been working on for several years – seeking to make their school bus more affordable so students didn’t have to take dangerous routes to walk the 2.7 miles to school every day.

Subsequent listening with young people from across Cardiff, Newport, Aberystwyth and the Gwent Valleys, found that the cost of bus transport was a universal issue for young people in Wales – with university students in Aberystwyth walking half an hour up steep hills to get to university, and families at St Woolos primary school in Newport sending their children to school in taxis because it was cheaper than using the bus.

In late February 2025, the Welsh Government announced a scheme for “£1 buses for young people” aged 16-21. However, 5–15-year-olds were not included in the pilot, meaning there would be up to £1.70 difference between a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old, getting the same bus to and from school.

Students and young people from a range of institutions across Citizens Cymru Wales organised a campaign to pressure their Members of the Senedd and local Councillors to call for the £1 scheme to be expanded.

Following the lead of Cathays High School, this included St David's Catholic Sixth Form College, St Mary the Virgin Church in Wales Primary School in Butetown, Aberystwyth Students’ Union, Coleg Gwent, the Mommouth Diocese, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff School of History, Archaeology & Religion, Foundation 4 Sport, Cardiff and Vale College, Mount Stuart Primary School, Cardiff West Community High School and the Grange Pavilion Youth Forum.

Along with writing to decision makers, young people took action. On Friday 4 July, 53 leaders gathered outside the Senedd with local Councillors and Members of the Senedd, to call on Welsh Government to extend the £1 bus scheme.

Following the pressure, on the 10th July, the Welsh Government announced that their £1 bus pilot will include 5–15-year-olds from November. A delegation of Citizens Cymru leaders from primary school, high school, and university met with Ken Skates Cabinet Secretary for Transport one week later, where he acknowledged their campaigning and its role in the government deciding to expand the scheme.

Mr Skates committed to meeting with young leaders in the Autumn to feedback on the scheme and discuss getting permanent £1 bus tickets for under 21’s into the Labour manifesto ahead of the Senedd elections next May 2026.

Citizens Cymru Wales meeting with Ken Skates

The extension of the scheme to all children and young people will help break down barriers to accessing the places, opportunities and people they need to enable them to thrive, increasing mobility and social inclusion and providing more financial relief to them and their families.

Students dressed up in costumes representing homes that are too cold, too hot, damp and mouldy at a Cardiff Citizens Assembly

Citizens Cymru Wales is a local Chapter part of Citizens UK and is made up of civil society institutions such as schools, faith institutions, unions, and charities. Find out how your institution can get involved in community organising by joining us as a member.

Posted by Shazia Begum on 21 Jul, 2025