Correspondence on free rail travel for under 22 year olds: FOI release

Information requested

Please provide all correspondence between ministers, civil servants, SPAD's, Scotrail, Scotland's Railway,Transport Scotland and Network Rail discussing any plans to introduce free train travel for under 22 year old.

Also provide,
1. The name or names of who initiated the proposal to allow free train travel for that age group.
2. The costs associated with loss of revenue to Scotrail/Scotland's Railway.
3. Who will fund the loss of revenue.

Response

I can confirm that the topic of free rail travel for under 22 year olds has not been discussed or explored by the Scottish Government including those listed above therefore an exemption under section 17 of FOISA (Information not held) held applies to the information you have requested.

I can confirm however, that there has been a review on concessionary fares for those under the age of 26 undertaken which includes consideration of rail concessionary travel which may be of interest to you.

This review has been commissioned to identify and explore options for extending concessionary travel across all public transport modes to those under the age of 26. The options considered were by mode and by targeted group and therefore included considering a rail only option of the provision of free rail travel for those under the age of 26.

An exemption under section 27 (1) of FOISA (Future publication : 12 weeks) applies to this information. This exemption has been applied to the “Under 26 Concessionary Fares Review” document as it is Transport Scotland’s intention to publish this document within the next 12 weeks.

I have asked colleagues responsible for this work to provide you with a link to the information once published.

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