The cost of public transport for students in further and higher education and apprenticeships can have a detrimental impact on their experience in the education sector. Thousands of young adults are left facing adult fares despite remaining in education. The Department for Transport encourages local authorities, operators and communities to work in partnership to decide how best to provide access to services for all their residents. The statuary responsibility for transport to education and training rests with local authorities allowing them to make decisions that best match local’s needs and circumstances.

In August 2016, the West Midlands Rail Franchise released their response to their previous consultation. Following on from this, we welcomed the student travel fare, however, the concerns of approximately 80,000 students and apprentices in Birmingham were still not fully addressed. There are still concerns regarding the restrictions on the 16-25 railcard, the disabled persons travel card and the concessionary travel pass.

Therefore, we the undersigned call for a review on the 16-25 railcard, the disabled persons travel card and the concessionary travel pass. We also request that the voices of further education students, higher education students and apprentices are represented in Network West Midlands.