School students will have free public transport and the wider Western Australian community will gain the same benefit on Sundays as part of state government efforts to ease the cost of living.
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Premier Roger Cook on Sunday announced the measures designed to help families grapple with higher interest rates and inflation.
From Monday week, children will be able to use public transport to travel to and from school on weekdays.
A family that has two children travelling to school daily via public transport would save up to $560 this year, the government says.
Children must have a Student SmartRider card for free travel. About 30,000 students have the card.
Mr Cook said the free school travel was a cost of living measure.
"We know that high interest rates have impacted everyone in the West Australian community so we want to do everything that we can to assist them in these tough times," he said.
The West Australian public will have free public transport every Sunday. This will begin on February 4.
Public transport was provided free this summer on the first Sunday of each month and half a million more people travelled to the city than the same previous period.
Mr Cook said families and city businesses would benefit.
"It will help WA families and continue to support local small businesses, particularly those in the cities, because it will bring more visitors to the cities on the train," he said.
Australian Associated Press
