A special pass which allows youngsters unlimited bus travel for an annual fee is to be introduced across Kent. The Kent Freedom Pass lets young people aged 11 to 16 use buses for free once they have paid an initial �50.
Kent County Council said it had decided to expand the scheme after the success of its initial introduction in Canterbury and Tunbridge Wells in 2007.
The pass will be available in Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling, Dover and Shepway from June.
'Key benefit'
Swale and Thanet will be included in January and from June 2009 the pass will be available countywide.
Councillor Clive Hart said: "It's been a long hard battle to get Kent County Council to roll the scheme out to a poorer area of Kent and there can be no doubt that a key place to benefit from this initiative would be one like Thanet.
"I sincerely hope this scheme will help all our residents here in Thanet through reduced traffic at the peak times of the school runs.
"It's good to know that from next January our youngsters will finally have the same access to transport at weekends that their counterparts in some wealthier areas of Kent have enjoyed for some time now."
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