OAP bus passes are free travel as most places have a decent bus service into town and out of town. Provided you aren't commuting during rush hour, you can travel for free - takes a bunch of OAPs off the road and helps bolster shops and cafes in the centre of downs. This free card was brought in by Labour when they came in around 1997 and is a universal right, whether you can pay or not. You can turn it down I think, but you're still entitled to it.

There are various railcards that entitle you to money off rail travel. London is run by TFL (transport for london) and children under 11 can travel for free, under 16s also travel at a discounted rate but they need a special card. Travelling in London is generally quite cheap compared with everywhere else, and TFL is under the control of the mayor of London.

Travel outside of London is run by different companies. Virgin, GWR (Great Western Railway), Chiltern, South East Trains. We used to have Nationalised British Rail but Thatcher sold it off in the 1980s but each line is effectively a monopoly. There aren't multiple train companies competing on the same line - they don't bother competing with each other, they just continually raise costs to pay dividends to the shareholders.

This makes travelling by train prohibitively expensive (so most of us don't do it) but outside of London there are a whole bunch of commuter towns. Some workplaces in London will pay a part of your costs - but those workers just starting out are at a massive disadvantage in their early 20s. So they can apply for a 16 - 25 railcard, and this was extended by the Tories into a 26 - 30 card, because wages have stagnated.

The point of the ID in this election was that the tories allowed OAP bus passes as a valid form of ID, but not 26 - 30 railcards. Even though Labour brought in the first and Tories brought in the second. That's because they'd prefer it if young people didn't vote - and forgetful older folks did.

Fun fun fun.