School children could get massive reductions on bus fares.

Up to £1.5million could be pumped into slashing fares for five to 16-year-olds by up to 75 per cent.

West Sussex County Council is considering introducing offering the savings to youngsters holding a new "three in one" ID and benefits card.

Transport bosses believe it will increase the number of bus journeys made by young people by up to 800,000 a year.

The proposals are to make fares for children a quarter of those paid by adults. Half fares would be offered to 16 to 19-year-olds.

The intention is to create a "bus culture" among young people and reduce congestion by taking cars off the road.

County councillor Tex Pemberton said: "This will make them much less dependent on getting a lift to and from school and college from their parents.

"Because we intend that users of this scheme can also travel out of school hours, seven days a week, it will also ease the burden on parents heavily involved in transporting children to and from evening and weekend events."

The fares are likely to remain in place during school holidays.

Funding has already been approved from the council's £800 million budget for the next financial year.

The new fares would be in place by Spetember.

The announcement comes after ministers dropped plans - backed by the council - for publicly-funded US-style yellow buses to ferry children to and from school.

Money from the council's coffers will go direct to bus companies. Many firms such as Stagecoach have already experimented with half-price fares for young people but found they were not commercially viable without other funding.

A report published by the county council said: "Though they were successful in attracting extra trips the bus companies could not sustain them financially."

The cards being used for the scheme would feature a "citizencard" type identification on the back and the bus travel portion on the front.

It is expected that many shops and retailers will offer a discount on production of the card.

Councillors are due to discuss the plan at a select committee meeting on April 18.