Holiday Hop bus scheme offers fare deal for kids

A SCHOOL holiday bus scheme that helps families with young kids to get out and about is to relaunch this week.

Dundee City Council has teamed up with city bus operators to bring back the Holiday Hop scheme, offering a 20p fare for children when they travel with an adult fare payer or concession ticket holder.

The local authority said the 20p scheme, which was launched last year, had led to “significant increases” in the number of bus journeys a day taken by young people compared with previous Easter, summer and October holidays.

City development convener Lynne Short said: “It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this scheme to hard-pressed families across Dundee.

“The difference that it can make between holidays spent in or near the house and the ability to get out and see the many places of interest we have in the city is significant to the lives of parents and their bairns.”

The scheme is backed by Smarter Choices Smarter Places – a Scottish Government programme that advocates taking less car journeys – as well as operators Xplore Dundee, Stagecoach and Moffat & Williamson, and spans the entire “ABC” Dundee bus zone.

Running from Saturday until August 13 and again from October 6-21, the scheme will allow families to discover the city by bus.

Up to three under-16s can get the bargain fare per paying adult – including those with season tickets and weekly passes.

Ms Short added: “I’m really pleased that the bus operators have committed to t he summer and October holidays and I hope that not only will it open up the city to some bairns who might not have got the chance before, it will also create a new generation of confident, selfreliant bus users.”

Councillor Lynne Short