Children aged 5-15 years should be able to travel for free on buses in Cornwall in August. The government announced in May a package of measures involving VAT reductions on some activities such as children’s meals in restaurants, children’s tickets to cinemas, entry to a wide range of attractions to run for a couple of months this summer, see Great British Summer Savings. Then the government recently announced that children would be able to travel for free on buses for the month of August, see free bus travel.
Go Cornwall Bus has confirmed to me that they should be implementing this scheme for the benefit of children living in Cornwall and for visitors to Cornwall in August, although, as of last weekend, they were "still in final discussions with DfT” over the exact mechanism of how they will be reimbursed. It is likely that the government is simply offering the bus companies a lump sum to compensate them for the lost fare income and, until now, the bus companies are saying that it is not enough. But, as with the government funded single fare cap of £3 per single journey, my guess is that the bus companies will feel that they have little choice but to accept the government money as a fait accompli.
Any scheme to encourage more use of the buses is a good thing. Hopefully, therefore, we will see confirmation of the scheme in the next few days from the bus companies.