England's summer child-travel scheme runs alongside wave of data on young people's nature, health and rail use

First Bus has restricted evening free travel for children in Stoke-on-Trent at the same time as three government bodies released national data on young people's access to nature, health advice contacts and rail journeys.

From 6:00pm on 21 August 2026, children aged 15 and under must be accompanied by an adult to travel on First Bus services operating to and from Hanley Bus Station, the company announced [5]. The restriction was introduced as the Kids Go Free travel scheme continues across England throughout August [5]. First Bus said it made the decision after discussions with Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire Police, and following Department for Transport approval, because of continuing incidents of anti-social behaviour at the bus station and on board services [5].

On the same day, Natural England published its Children’s People and Nature Survey 2022 update, which studied how children aged 8 to 15 engage with the natural environment inside and outside school in England during the school holidays and term-time [1]. The Office of Rail and Road also published regional rail usage statistics for April 2025 to March 2026, covering passenger journeys for each region of Great Britain [2][4]. Earlier, the UK Health Security Agency published weekly bulletins summarising NHS 111 health advice calls across England [3].