A group of children from Hartcliffe have launched a campaign to get free bus travel for all children in Bristol - and are already getting the city’s leading politicans to sit up and notice.
The youngsters said such a move would open up the city to all those living on the edges, and also mean a new generation grows up using buses instead of driving cars.
And the group of youngsters, from a creative project called Room 13, have secured the backing of leading councillors in their campaign.
Project workers helping the youngsters said many city leaders and university professors were left shocked to discover there are ten-year-olds in Hartcliffe or other areas on the edge of Bristol like Avonmouth, who have never once been in to the city centre.
And it is that inequality of opportunity that the campaign, which has taken the form of a short film explaining their arguments, seeks to address.
The film takes the form of a news report, with various characters - including a ‘mum’, children and a bus driver - and even a dream sequence, explaining why making Bristol’s buses free for under 18s in education would benefit everyone.
“If more people use the buses, the better,” said Stan, an 11-year-old playing a bus driver of 20 years.
“If bus travel was free for children until they left education, it would be better for all of us in the long run.
"It makes economic sense as children would grow up to be adults that would use the buses more, and that would be good for the bus companies, congestion, the planet and all our health - and my paycheck,” he said.
The youngsters point out that they don’t feel part of the city when events are on in the city centre, because it’s too expensive for families to access them from places like Hartcliffe.
Room 13 is a creative space project within Hareclive E-Act Primary School in Hartcliffe, and one of more than 100 similar projects all over the world that offers a break-out space for youngsters to express themselves both during school and in an after-school setting that welcomes former primary school pupils to come back.
It began as a collaboration between Room 13 and Professor Antonia Layard at the University of Bristol, who is conducting research into transport costs for families and young people living on the edges of cities in places like Hartcliffe.
That research sparked the video, which was was funded by the Brigstow Institute.
Room 13 Development worker Ingrid Skeels said the children felt passionately about the issue.
“Children are growing up into young people and then adults and year after year they are not part of the city,” she said.
“There are children that are ten or 11 around here who have never even been into Bristol.
“For most people in Bristol who have cars, or live near the city centre, you almost can’t believe it, but it is the case.
“They see the city putting on these great events, and lovely parks and the harbour and everything, but they are not fully involved if they can’t get there,” she added.
“But there are other issues that came out in the research, that is still to be finalised, but it revealed that it’s a real issue when young people have things like hospital or eye appointments in the city centre or Bedminster, and it makes a difference,” she added.
The video produced has received a lot of love on social media in Bristol.
Hartcliffe councillor Helen Holland said it was brilliant, and South Bristol MP Karin Smyth said the film was ‘the case free bus travel for children brilliantly put’.
The city council’s cabinet member for children, Helen Godwin invited the film-makers and campaigners in for a chat.
“'I was so impressed with the eloquence and passion of the young people from Room 13,” said Cllr Godwin.
“They explained to me so clearly why they felt that Bristol should have free bus travel for children.
“Some of the children who live in families without cars, talked about how they risk missing important medical appointments because of the cost of bus travel, and also the chance to go to sports and other physical activities.
“We also talked about the environmental benefit of more people travelling on the bus. They told me that although there are brilliant free attractions and events in town, if families can't afford to get the bus - they still miss out.
“Bristol belongs to all of us, and if some of our children can't access the best that our brilliant city has to offer, then we have to explore further how we can open up access,” she added.
The youngsters pointed out that pensioners get a free bus pass, while children in London enjoy free bus travel.
But Cllr Godwin said those initiatives are either national ones, or able to be put in place because London runs a franchise system on the buses.
One change that has helped the situation recently was First's introduction of a flat fare, which came after pressure from Bristol City Council, which meant fares for longer journeys - including from the outskirts of the city into town - were cut.
“The children were mature, and understood that unlike London, the Mayor doesn't have the power over the buses and therefore this isn't something that we can change here in City Hall, but we talked about how we can spread the message and share the brilliant film that they made,” she added.
