No Freedom for Tonbridge Sixth formers....

I feel sorry for all those 16 year boys and girls of Tonbridge who are about to start in the sixth form or at colleges. They have got very used to using their Kent Freedom bus passes and now, just as they need it the most, when they feel confident enough to travel further afield without parents interference, they have their cards swiped away from them by Kent County Council! As if that weren't bad enough they can't even buy the equivalent bus pass. If you go to school in Tunbridge Wells and live in Tonbridge, as many do due to the quirks of the school selection policies, you have to buy a four weekly ticket from Arriva (at a cost of £58) which entitles you to travel anywhere in the Tonbridge T. Wells zone but not further North than Hildenborough, and not to Crowborough or Hadlow or East Peckham area. All of which they could do only a few days ago before their passes ran out. If KCC won't extend the scheme to include sixth formers then why can't the bus companies get their heads together and come up with an affordable pass which lets them travel in the same zones as before? I know that councils and big companies move slowly but they have had nearly five years to come up with something!...