García Chueca considers that extending free public transport for under 12s to the whole of the Basque Country to be "very good news for all families"
- Euskotren will roll out the measure in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa from 30 January.
The Basque Government's Minister for Sustainable Mobility, Susana García Chueca, has positively assessed free public transport for children up to their 12th birthday being extended to the whole of the Basque Country. Following on from the measure being implemented in Álava at the start of the month, it will now be rolled out in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa from 30 January (Dbus will do so on 5 February), and also on trains and trams run by Euskotren, the Basque Government's publicly-owned company.
It is "very good news for families", the Basque minister stressed and she went on to point out that the Basque Country "would end the month with this important improvement up and running". The measure – driven by the Basque Government and passed on by the Basque Transport Authority to the other institutions and operators to implement it – seeks to "foster sustainable mobility and to help people with children economically".
The Basque Transport Minister thanked the institutions and public transport operators for the "effort" in recent weeks to put free transport in place for that age group: "it is a step forward to the long-term goal to create an integrated fare system in the Basque Country, with specific features by provinces but with shared discount terms for use and to protect certain segments, including the youngest members of society".
The step that is being taken now means that free travel is being extended to children up to their 12th birthday from the current age of 0 to 6; this will benefit around 130,000 children in the whole of the Basque Country and their families. The children will need an individual travel card – Bat, Barik or Mugi – and validate it before each journey.
Furthermore, passengers under 12 travelling alone will need authorisation from their parents or guardians to use the different Euskotren means of transport; the authorisation form can be downloaded from the Euskotren website.