Fare-free public transport supporting children’s independence and ease of using public transport

Children’s independent mobility is declining worldwide. This trend is concerning as it mirrors growing disparities in access to essential destinations like schools and recreational activities. There exists limited evidence on how fare-free public transport policy may impact children's independent mobility. Using a multimethod approach, we investigated whether a transport policy level decision providing unlimited fare-free public transport for children is related to independent mobility and children’s use of public transport. We compared children residing in two different, yet comparable Finnish cities, one with fare-free public transport and one without. We found that children living in a city with fare-free public transport reported having a greater number of mobility licenses than those living in a city where they need to pay to travel by public transport. Children with fare-free public transport reported using the bus independently much more and were accessing a greater number of their everyday places by public transport, compared with their peers living in a city without fare-free public transport. The implementation of a fare-free public transport policy has the potential to boost independent public transport usage among children. This cross-sectional evidence underscores the capacity of a political decision to reduce disparities and enhance children's independent mobility.