TRAVEL

CO-EDITOR ELISE DIXON

Should Students PAY FOR THE BUS

BY ANONYMOUS

As a student myself, paying for the bus day in and day out, does get a little expensive. Even if I get a term ticket... which are over £100! I only started paying for the bus when I moved to college. However, it was my only mode of transport to get there. As many students are still required to stay in full time education until age 18, unless they have found an apprenticeship or are in another line of work, why do we have to pay for our bus/ train tickets, if attending education is compulsory.

I believe that if you are attending college or apprenticeship or even if you are working, transportation should be paid for those 18 and under. Being a student, especially those going to university, it’s incredibly expensive. Not to mention the countless studies asking university students if they struggle to make ends meet, which they do. So having time before going to university to do A levels, level 4s, etc, to not have to worry about transport payments, should be the minimum and the standard.

Why should we make students pay for transportation to somewhere they are expected to attend. Especially when they move on to universities or other places, where they’ll have to start making their own way. Students are already in difficult positions with regards to money and independence as the system has never taught us how to look after our finances and other life skills needed. So why make it more difficult?

Should Schools Educate Students on HOW TO TRAVEL SAFELY?

BY ANONYMOUS

I think when it comes to gap years, people usually know where they want to travel to and activities they want to do. However not much is said about how to do all this safely.

We have talks in schools about train safety and cyber safety. Though when it comes to travelling around the world, I believe more should be said about how to protect ourselves. From small things like not posting about how you travel around and your exact locations, to little hotel room safety checks.

If there was more information taught to students about how to travel safety there may be less incidents of young people going missing or becoming endangered. There needs to be more awareness of dangers travelling abroad or even domestically within our own country as things such as human trafficking are still just as prevalent. Not to mention the ways people will be targeted abroad for not knowing the area in advance, taking taxis which are not qualified or legitimate companies etc. My opinion is that if a student states to their college, or wherever they are, that they wish to go travelling on a gap year, there should be discussions about how to do travel safely, danger signs of being spiked, and other areas/potential situations of importance that should be spoken about.

Many of these things get overlooked when someone is excited as travelling should be an enjoyable experience and not an experience which you should shy away from purely because of the potential dangers.

If you are deciding yourself whether to travel, just research ways you can keep yourself safe and make sure you always have emergency contacts in case something does go wrong! Safety should be priority!