In May 2025, the First Minister announced that the Scottish Government would bring secondary legislation to introduce a process of suspending or withdrawing concessionary travel passes, including under-22s, for those responsible for antisocial behaviour. Young people were not consulted before this policy was announced. This secondary legislation is now before the Scottish Parliament.
We are clear: Young people want safe public transport.
This is not an ask exclusive to adults or older people. Young people shared in a recent survey from Young Scot that more than half had experienced feeling unsafe on public transport. This has been a long-term feeling, ever since I was elected as an MSYP in 2021. Over the years, I have regularly and consistently heard from young people in my constituency that they feel unsafe when using public transport.
We also know that reports of young people’s behaviour on public transport are often biased, opinionated and sensationalised. Young people have been described by journalists as ‘congregating’ on public transport, and buses in Dundee were described as ‘mobile gang huts’ because young people were using them to travel around the city during the summer holidays.
I strongly challenge the assumption that young people are exclusively responsible for anti-social behaviour on public transport, because research with young people disputes this.
Young people told us about how this assumption and stereotype affect them:
Too many times I have been chased out of cafes or public places and parks for trying to spend time outdoors with my friends. Our parents don’t want us inside but nobody else wants us outside.
Scottish Youth Parliament’s Manifesto Dear Scotland’s Future, 2025.
Many places aren’t suitable for young people, there aren’t many activities, so we end up just sitting. Other people also assume all teenagers are drinking/high/causing trouble, which makes us feel unwanted.
Scottish Youth Parliament’s Manifesto Dear Scotland’s Future, 2025.
Fundamentally, we believe this proposal will not achieve the aim of making public transport safe for everyone, and instead, could have a detrimental effect on young people who require support.
This is a rushed policy, which acts to respond to an issue, not resolve it. Instead, local youth work teams should be supported to help promote safe and respectful use of public transport, whilst providing youth-friendly spaces in all communities. In SYP’s Dear Scotland’s Future consultation, young people directly linked a lack of welcoming youth-specific spaces and anti-social behaviour:
Young people have turned to buses as a space to hang out so there needs to be more spaces for us to go.
Scottish Youth Parliament’s Manifesto Dear Scotland’s Future, 2025.
Current sentiment towards young people is constantly souring with issues like youth violence and vandalism. Giving young people space to be themselves, meanwhile, has been shown to improve their mental health. This change would benefit all, and bring an ever-divided population closer together.
Scottish Youth Parliament’s Manifesto Dear Scotland’s Future, 2025.
[Youth-specific spaces are] incredibly lacking in our communities and one of the reasons that there is such an issue of young people vandalising/ causing trouble for local areas. There’s nothing to do and they are disempowered and disenfranchised without connection to their local space – of course they don’t care and are mucking stuff up.
Scottish Youth Parliament’s Manifesto Dear Scotland’s Future, 2025.
Feeling connected and supported, with good education or employment opportunities, alongside access to key services such as youth work, are all critical factors in enabling children and young people not to get involved in, or move away from, antisocial behaviour.
Suspending or permanently removing access to affordable transport will only further marginalise young people in need of support.
Young people want:
- Welcoming, supportive, accessible and affordable spaces for young people in their communities, along with adults to support them.
- To be meaningfully involved in legislative, policy and practice developments to make public transport safer.
- Investment in youth-specific spaces and local youth work provision to ensure young people have safe, affordable and supported spaces in their community.
- Decision-makers need to challenge the harmful stereotypes and perception that young people are solely responsible for anti-social behaviour on transport.
