Free travel pass

A free travel pass is the privilege of a certain class of passengers to use a public transport service without paying a fare or presenting a ticket. They may need to present an identification card produced by their employer or other sponsoring organization, or by the transit provider.

Types of passenger

The following types of passenger sometimes receive free travel on transport services:

• Students
• The elderly
• The disabled
• Children under 6 years old
• System employees and their dependents
• Public safety workers and military personnel

Funding

Free travel for various types of passenger may be funded by:

• national, regional or local governments, through taxation
• cross subsidy from other passengers
• employers for their staff (job tickets)
• schools or universities, through their students' fees or education funding

List of examples

• Australia
  • Canberra, Australia - Free public transport for everyone 75 years and over.
  • Victoria, Australia - The Myki Access Travel Pass is a free Travel Pass for people with a significant permanent disability who travel independently on Victoria's public transport network.
• United Kingdom
  • England
    • In Manchester, The Oxford Road Link (Bus route 147) offers free travel for part of the route (between Manchester University and MMU campuses) for university students and staff. Three free bus routes also operate in Manchester city Centre.
    • England-wide travel provided by the DfT for over-60s and eligible disabled people between 09:30-23:00 weekdays and all day weekends under the English National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme. Similar schemes operate in Scotland (see below) and Wales; however there is no unified scheme covering the whole of Great Britain and national concessionary passes are valid for use only by citizens of each of the three countries and only within each country.
  • Scotland
    • The Scottish National Entitlement Card offers free bus and scheduled coach travel throughout Scotland for disabled and elderly passengers.
• United States
  • San Diego, California - employees of the Metropolitan Transit System ride free on all scheduled routes (with ID).
• Zagreb, Croatia - Free public transport for all students, unemployed persons, disabled persons (more than 70%), blood donors and everyone over 65 years
• Other major cities of former Yugoslavia (Belgrade, Niš, Osijek, Split, etc.) - free use of buses and trams for everyone over 65 (in some cities 70) years
• American Airlines used to sell lifetime passes for unlimited first class tickets on all of its flights under the brand AAirpass. The offer was discontinued after it had been found to cause substantial losses to the company.

See also

• zero-fare public transport