When more people take transit, we all benefit. It is one the biggest steps we can take towards shrinking our carbon footprint. But for kids, it is also a first step in fostering independence, building important life skills, and becoming life-long transit users. It is also an affordable and convenient way for families to travel around Metro Vancouver.

Since Sept. 2021, children 12 and under ride TransLink services free of charge through the province’s Get on Board – Kids 12 and Under Ride Free program. We estimate that young transit users have already taken three-million free journeys on transit.

To help parents and teachers prepare their children to ride transit and take advantage of this program, we have a number of resources available on our website. They are all designed to help empower children to become safe and confident travellers. The resources include:

• A promotional video geared towards kids to help get them excited about riding transit.
• A transit tips guide for how to start taking transit.
• Mad libs for bus and SkyTrain to help young riders discover the fun in taking transit.
• “Spot the difference” to help them understand and practice good transit-riding etiquette.
• Transit bingo for practicing the different steps of riding transit such as trip planning.
• A virtual bus tool to tour a bus at their own pace.
• Training videos in English with American Sign Language (ASL), Described Video, Cantonese, French, Mandarin, and Punjabi.

All this more are available for viewing and download at translink.ca/travelsmart.

While travel for children 12 and under is free, parents and guardians are responsible for educating and making decisions about the safety and care of their children whenever travelling on transit.