Social Democrats pledge free youth travel in jobs-and-climate plan
The Social Democrats would make public transport free for school-age children and full-time students under an election package that also expands industrial climate aid and electric-vehicle support.
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The party's transport pledge covers 12- to 19-year-olds during evenings, weekends and school holidays. Full-time students up to age 24 would travel free during terms when going to their studies. The proposal gives no start date or model for compensating regional transport authorities.
The wider election package would restore state-backed green credits, expand Klimatklivet and Industriklivet, broaden support for buying or leasing electric cars, and increase investment aid for heavy electric trucks. It also calls for more charging infrastructure, longer public contracts for Swedish biofuels and tougher climate requirements in public procurement, including green steel and lower-emission cement.
Some of those programmes already operate. Klimatklivet says it has allocated SEK 21 billion to more than 33,000 emissions-cutting investments since 2015. Industriklivet has a SEK 653 million budget for 2026. The Social Democrats are promising to enlarge them, not create them.
The party has not published the package's total cost, financing, regional reimbursement formula or the size and eligibility rules for the vehicle support. Those details remain open. SKR says regional and local public transport is a municipal and regional responsibility.
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