Alphapuggle PieFedStarting 2027, all children under age 12 will travel free on public transit in the Netherlands (link in Dutch)
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They’ll have to be accompanied by a paying adult, but still. This covers all public transport – trains, metros, trams, buses, etc.
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It’s ridiculous for them not to be free. It’s my opinion that it should be free for all (full time) students, regardless of age. Perhaps not intercity trains but for local transit, absolutely. Fees for children are such an unnecessary gate to the people who rely on transit the most.
Also disabled people shouldn’t have to pay, or at least have a means based adjustment with a pretty low bar.
I wouldn’t saw all ages. I don’t want 40 year olds who enroll in a “quilting class” for fun to get free transport. However it should be free for everybody on track to graduate from [I’m not sure what they call it in he Netherlands, in the US we call it high school]. Get the young in the habit of using transit before they can drive and they won’t dream of a car.
It shouldn’t require parents to be with them. Parents need to be with a 3 year old, but at some age (there is no agreement on when!) they are not needed. A normal 12 year old should have activities that they go to that don’t need their parents to go with. Ideally a 5 year old could get to school alone on transit, but a good system must be too complex for a 5 year old to figure out - though depending on route they might be able to figure out just how to get to school (that is you better have a plan for when the young kids get lost)
How about “full time student”?
The key is indeed decoupling people from the car! If the default mode as a kid is “mom drives me” it turns into “I drive me”.
Entirely agree on the unaccompanied minors; that’s so limiting.