Violent young adults should be stripped of their free bus travel in Scotland, a Labour MP has urged. Lillian Jones said free bus travel for under 22s north of the border “should be something to be celebrated”, but warned that the scheme had generated anti-social behaviour on board.
Young people aged between five and 21 have made more than 200 million journeys with their passes since the Scottish Government introduced the scheme in January 2022. Debating the Crime and Policing Bill, Ms Jones welcomed plans for new respect orders for adults, which would give authorities the power to ban people responsible for repeated anti-social behaviour from town centres.
She also told the Commons: “Since the SNP introduced their under-22 bus pass initiative, many of my constituents have told me that they’re now afraid to visit Kilmarnock bus station or even use their local bus services. This is not about demonising young people, far from it. Young people are more likely to be victims of crime and anti-social behaviour when they’re perpetrators, but it’s wrong to ignore the significant minority who make life a misery for others.”
Ms Jones later added: “With their bus pass scheme, which should be something to be celebrated, it has created a situation where people of all ages are now thinking twice about using the local bus services.
“As my friend Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said, and I quote, ‘under 22s that are found to have repeatedly acted violently on buses should have their free bus pass taken from them’.
“This should be obvious – rights should come with responsibilities, and it’s shameful that there’s currently no mechanism to withdraw a free bus pass from someone who has been abusing it – that needs to change.”