Schoolchildren who do not own smartphones face paying hundreds of pounds extra in annual bus fares as cheaper travel passes are digitised. Critics argue that by only making discounts available through an app, operators are undermining government guidance to keep mobile phones out of schools. Adele Kightley’s 11-year-old daughter faces paying an extra £546 a year to get to school because a discount scheme launched by Derbyshire county council is only available via smartphones.
The b_line card caps single fares on trentbarton buses at £1.50 for those aged 18 and under. However, users have to register their card with an app to qualify. However, they can’t get the same discount by showing the same student card to the driver and paying by cash or card.” Trentbarton said its ticketing machines are not configured to read the council-issued cards.
The increasing use of digital-only passes is penalising poorer households as well as undermining efforts to restrict screen time for children, according to Daisy Greenwell, a co-founder of the campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood. More than 200,000 parents have signed up to the campaign group’s “parent pact”, which promises to delay getting a child smartphones until at least 14, “yet essential services are still being designed around the assumption that every child has one”, Greenwell said. Some schools prohibit pupils from bringing smartphones on site.
However, the Department for Education said the legislation did not cover phone use during travel to school and that app-only fare discountswere a matter for individual bus operators. The government’s stance is sending mixed messages, Greenwell said. Government and bus companies have a clear opportunity to fix this, so every child can access the same fare whether they carry a smartphone or not.” Stagecoach and Compass were contacted for a comment.
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