Parents urged to renew travel passes early ahead of the new school year

Young people are entitled to a range of passes to enable them to travel to school or college

Parents in Greater Manchester are being encouraged to renew their children’s travel passes in good time for the new school year.

Youngsters return to school and college in September and are entitled to a range of passes, including Igo, Our Pass, the Free School pass and the Scholars’ Concessionary Permit.

But many in Greater Manchester are still to apply for them – for example, only around 20% of expected applications for Our Pass have been received and processed to date.

Young people risk not receiving their passes in time if they have not applied by early August – as it can take up to four weeks for applications to be processed and arrive in the post.

Parents are also being encouraged to familiarise themselves with the school routes, services and timetables that their children may be using from September.

Sean Dyball, TfGM's head of customer experience, is keen that young people do not miss out on a single day of the concessionary travel they are entitled to.

He said: “There are a range of passes that allow children and young people in Greater Manchester to travel for free or at a reduced rate – and we want them to take full advantage of the schemes on offer.

“To ensure that all our young people receive their pass by the start of the new academic year, we’re calling on parents to get their applications to us as soon as possible and ideally by early August at the latest.

“This would help stop a backlog of applications and ensure that all our youngsters are good to go from day one, when the schools go back in September.”

The Bee Network – Greater Manchester’s new ‘London-style’, high volume, low fare, transport system, which will transform the way people travel across the city region is also due to be launched in September.

From September, 31 school bus services in Bolton, Wigan and parts of Manchester, Salford and Bury will join The Bee Network, under the new bus franchising arrangements.There will be no changes to the schools served or the numbers of buses used on these services – and children can continue to use these services as normal.