App-only passes push up school fares
Schoolchildren without smartphones penalised with higher bus fares
Sunday, 27 September 2026
Warm-up
- How do you usually travel to school or work?
- Do you use any apps to buy tickets or pay for things?
- Should children have smartphones? Why or why not?
Vocabulary
- smartphone
- A mobile phone that can use the internet and apps.
- discount
- A lower price than the normal price.
- fare
- The money you pay to travel by bus, train, or taxi.
- digitise
- To change something into a digital or app-only system.
- register
- To enter your details to set up and use a service.
- council
- The local government for a town, city, or area.
- campaign
- Organised actions to try to change something.
- pledge
- A serious promise to do something.
Reading
In parts of England, some schoolchildren are paying more for the bus because cheaper passes are being digitised. In Derbyshire, Adele Kightley says her 11-year-old daughter will pay £546 extra a year. The council's b_line card can cap single fares on trentbarton buses at £1.50. However, users must register the card through an app on a smartphone.
Trentbarton says its machines cannot read the council cards. It is working on a new physical card. A regional authority says it is considering how young people access discounts. The campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood says app-only tickets penalise poorer families. More than 200,000 parents have joined its pledge to delay smartphones until at least 14.
A new law bans phones in English schools. However, the government says travel is not covered, and discounts are up to bus operators.
Comprehension
- Where does the family in the example live?
- How much extra could the 11-year-old pay in a year?
- What price can the council card cap a single fare at?
- Why do some children without smartphones miss the discount?
- What does the government say about travel and phone rules?
Grammar focus
Present continuous
Use the present continuous for actions happening now or temporary actions. Form: am/is/are + verb-ing (e.g. are paying). Use time words like now, today or at the moment.
- In parts of England, some schoolchildren are paying more for the bus.
- It is working on a new physical card.
Grammar exercise
Complete the sentences with the present continuous form of the verb in brackets.
- Some schoolchildren (pay) ___ more for the bus right now.
- The company (work) ___ on a physical card at the moment.
- Cheaper passes (digitise) ___ this year and affect fares.
- Parents (register) ___ the cards on apps today.
- A regional authority (consider) ___ how young people access discounts this week.
Discussion
- Is it fair to give the best prices only through an app? Why?
- What other ways could companies give discounts to children?
- Who should decide when a child gets a smartphone? Why?
- Would this be a problem in your town? Explain.
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