Free bus travel for young people benefits the environment and may help curb road traffic injuries, a

Free bus travel for young people benefits the environment and may help curb road traffic injuries, according to an analysis of the free bus scheme for young Londoners, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health .   It has also boosted the proportion of short journeys taken by bus, but not reduced the overall amount walked, the findings show.
Researchers from the Transport and Health Group at the London School of Hygiene cheap hawaii hotel Tropical Medicine wanted to assess the public health impact of giving teens in London free bus travel. The scheme, which all young Londoners are entitled to by registering for a Zip Oyster Card, was introduced for 12 to 16 year olds in 2005, and for 17 year olds in 2006.
Dr Phil Edwards and colleagues looked at data from the London Area Transport Survey and London Travel Demand Surveys to calculate the number of journeys made in London—as well as distance and principal cheap hawaii hotel mode of travel—before (2001-4) and after (2005-9) the scheme was introduced. They also looked at official data on traffic injuries and hospital admissions to see if the scheme had any noticeable effects on personal safety.
But there was clear evidence of a fall in the number of short journeys cycled and in distances cycled by young people, although this mode of travel was not hugely popular among this age group before the introduction of the scheme.
Rates of road traffic cheap hawaii hotel casualties had started falling before the introduction of the scheme, and continued to fall afterwards, but at a greater rate in young people, largely among passengers and cyclists. Pedestrian casualty rates remained the same.
Hospital admission rates for assaults had been rising among teens before 2005, but were higher among this age group after the scheme's introduction. However, cheap hawaii hotel the authors caution that the data does not show whether the assaults occurred on buses or not, so increases in assaults cannot be directly attributed to free bus travel.
The number of daily car journeys taken by young people and adults fell, and the average distance travelled by car also shrank, suggesting that free bus travel prompts a shift away from car use and may therefore be a greener option.
Co-author of the paper, Professor Judith Green, said: The introduction of free bus travel for young Londoners has been beneficial in a number of ways. Although the proportion of short journeys young people took by bus increased, it did not reduce the amount of walking they did overall because they were making extra trips and getting out and about more often."
Lead author Dr Phil Edwards added: Free bus travel has also led to a reduction in the use of cars; considering that all cities are facing increasing cheap hawaii hotel congestion and rising levels of traffic pollution, the introduction of free bus travel for young people is an example of a policy cheap hawaii hotel that has made hopping on the bus the norm while easing problems on the roads.
Phil Edwards, Rebecca Steinbach, Judith Green, Mark Petticrew, Anna Goodman, Alasdair Jones, Helen Roberts, Charlotte Kelly, John Nellthorp, Paul Wilkinson. Health impacts of free bus travel for young people: evaluation of a natural experiment in London.  BMJ. doi 10.1136/jech-2012-202156