The Danish government wants to make buses and trains free of charge for children and young people up to the age of 22. The idea is not new to the city of Fredericia, where all passengers have been riding the city buses without a ticket since last summer, and the results are already turning heads.
Ridership up 84 percent in ten months
Since Fredericia introduced free city bus travel, passenger numbers have risen by an average of 84 percent over ten months, with individual months recording increases of up to 90 percent, according to figures from regional transport authority Sydtrafik. The initiative costs the municipality approximately 8.7 million Danish kroner per year, an amount the city council has built into its annual budget.
For 18-year-olds Felina Baunbæk Lykke and Silas Overmark Løyche, the free buses are already part of daily life. Riding a yellow city bus in Fredericia, neither needs to worry about checking in with a travel card or buying a ticket.
For Silas, the practical impact has been equally direct. Money that previously went toward bus tickets and travel cards can now be set aside.
A national proposal still to be negotiated
When the new government platform was presented last week, Pelle Dragsted, political spokesperson for the Red-Green Alliance, announced that free travel on buses and trains would soon be extended to all young people under 22 nationwide. The details still need to be negotiated, and no timetable has been set for when the measure might enter into force.
Removing the economic barrier
The Danish Youth Council welcomes the proposal. According to the organisation’s chairperson, Anneline Larsen, the cost of a ticket has long acted as a genuine obstacle to participation in education, work, and civic life.
Larsen argues that equal access to community life is fundamental to young people’s wellbeing and democratic development, and that young people do not choose the families they grow up in. In her view, it is entirely fair that the cost of free public transport for the young should be borne by passengers over 22.
