Schoolchildren who do not own smartphones could face paying hundreds of pounds extra in annual bus fares as cheaper travel passes become digitised. This trend is occurring despite government guidance encouraging schools in England to keep mobile phones out.
Adele Kightley's 11-year-old daughter, who uses a 'brick phone', faces an additional £546 per year for school transport because a Derbyshire county council discount scheme requires smartphone app registration. The b_line card, which caps single fares at £1.50 for under-18s on trentbarton buses, necessitates linking the card with an app to qualify for the discount.
Trentbarton stated that its ticketing machines cannot read the council-issued cards and that it is developing a new physical card for discounted b_line fares for under-19s. In the interim, the company said all young people will continue to receive various discounts off adult fares regardless of payment method.
Campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood argues that the increasing use of digital-only passes penalises lower-income households and hinders efforts to limit children's screen time. The Department for Education has stated that while a law banning mobile phones in English schools came into force in June, it does not cover phone use during travel, and app-only fare discounts are a matter for individual bus operators.