Thousands of kids make use of free public transport in Amsterdam

Thousands of primary school children in Amsterdam are taking advantage of a promotion allowing them to travel for free by public transport in the city in the coming months. The municipality has already approved 9,000 applications for free public transport, a spokesperson said.

The promotion with free rides on the buses, trams, and metros of transport company GVB started this weekend and will run until the end of November. Conditions for free travel are that the child is between the ages of 4 and 11, lives in the municipality of Amsterdam, has a personal OV chip card, and is accompanied by an adult.

Around 60,000 children fall into the target group. “So we hope there will be many more registrations,” the spokesperson said. “We are working on flyers via the city districts, neighborhood teams, and other local networks to make more people aware of the possibility of applying for this because we want to give as many families as possible the opportunity to take advantage of this in the coming months.”

Last year, the city council released 1 million euros to let children travel for free on Saturdays. But it turned out that it was possible to allow free travel on many more days. Earlier, transport alderman Melanie van der Horst said that many families found it difficult to travel outside their own neighborhood and through the city. “I hope this action will give them a nice summer holiday and the opportunity to broaden their horizons,” Van der Horst said.

Children can also travel for free in other parts of the country this summer holiday. For example, there is a campaign by public transport company EBS, active in Voorne-Putten and Ruzenburg in Zuid-Holland and in the Gaaglanden and Waterland regions north of Amsterdam. The public transport company also runs buses in the IJssel-Vecht region under the brand name RRReis. In the province of Utrecht, children travel for free on buses and trams operated by the public transport company Syntus.