Don’t Zap the Zip
Help keep travel for under 16yr olds free
Pecan signed a joint letter supporting the Child Poverty Action Group’s Don’t Zap the Zip Campaign, calling for the government to keep travel for under 16 year olds free in London.
A survey from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows the suspension will force some families to cut back on daily living expenses – including food – while restricting children’s access to family, friends and out-of-school activities.
Children and young people in London have been able to travel around the capital for free, or at a discounted rate, using a Zip card, since 2006. But in May 2020 the Government made the suspension of free travel for 11-17 year olds (and 18 year olds who turn 18 in their last year of school/college) a condition of its emergency funding agreement for Transport for London (TfL).
Child Poverty Action Group’s Don’t Zap the Zip campaign commissioned an online YouGov survey of over 1000 11-18 year olds and their parents. Almost three quarters (74%) of youngsters surveyed who have a Zip card said they used their Zip card to get to school or college. But if free travel for 11-17 year olds goes, only those who live more than two miles from their school or are classed as vulnerable will be able to travel to school or college for free from after the October half term. Children aged 10 or under will retain free travel.*
CPAG says the suspension will hit low income and BME families the hardest – just as we go into a coronavirus recession – and calls on the Government to remove it.
UPDATE
On Friday 18 September 2020, the Child Poverty Action Group held a Day of Action as part of its Don’t Zap the Zip campaign, which aims to stop the proposed suspension of free travel for under 18s in London.
