To think DD should get the rail replacement bus

If it is taking 2-2.5 hours each way and the college are happy for the students who are impacted to be marked as present provided the work is done, then no I wouldn’t make her go in. Not sure I understand why you are making an issue of it given the college isn’t.

Not in the UK - college here means 6th form, so 16/17yo not uni age.

you should do the journey for weeks on end with no sign that it is going to change before you think your DD should do it.

I had a long train commute a few years ago. I used that time to do a degree on the OU - only possible on a train, no chance on a bus.

That journey is far too long on a train never mind a bus. Not surprised shewants to work from home. If she is getting the attendance mark for working remotely then let her do it. Not as if shes not doing the work - that would be different.

have you ever been reliant on the rail replacement bus? our town is now cut off due to works on the rails and we have had no trains for 2 months.

There are buses but there aren't enough, they are slow, and did i mention they send 2 non-bendy buses to replace a double decker train which is always packed. It is ridiculous and for that reason many people are working from home.

For your DD I'd encourage her to try for twice a week, but if she can get the work done from home, i would leave it at that.

I am not sure why there needs to be another option? The student is happy, the college is happy, the work is getting done. OP, you are not your daughter. You choose society over WFH; she does not. Its not like covid, she does have choices and has made hers.

It's sooo inconvenient, but also a 1st world problem. Some kids on the planet walk 6hrs to get water / get to school / get anything. Surely the college is OK with wfh? Can you get a local taxi driver to collect a few kids (in the same predicament) from the area? Ask council, college, minister of transport LOL to suggest who should fund this lovely taxi driver?

You think an excessively long commute on a cramped, hot, uncomfortable is better for her education than working at home in comfort, able to work whenever? All for just a short period of time?

Her usual 3 hour daily commute is completely unreasonable, and even an adult shouldn't be doing a 5 hour daily commute.
That can't be good for their health nor their workload, especially as if she can work on the train but not the bus that is an extra 4 waking hours to her "work" day, not just 2.
Really she needs the option to weekly/flexi board or zoom for some of the lessons, especially if there are practicals.

Take the bus, I don't see it makes much difference to being able to work - one can't always get a table seat on a train for a laptop. Tell her to read a book - easy on the bus. And no, it is not wise to miss weeks of lessons. Would she miss weeks of work if she had to take the bus instead of the train?

You sound resentful that she can work from home and you can't.

But then you've said you could if you wanted to.
You just want to impose your martyrdom complex on her?
That unnecessary suffering is good morally ?
Well it's not.
I'm much older than you.
There will be more than enough unavoidable suffering in her life without adding to it needlessly.
Have you considered counselling.
How have these ideas of yours impacted your own life.

Is there another option? Are there alternative buses that are maybe more frequent.
Could a 50cc motorbike be an option, a CBT test would be needed but that's quite quick to book - obviously depends if there is a low speed road all the way, not dual carriageway.

Presumably they are chasing them up if they don't log into the Teams lessons - OP's DD is, so they're considering her to be attending. I'm guessing they know their area and how far away some of their students travel from, and consider this to be a pragmatic approach that means that those students are still able to study. I would trust to their judgement if I were OP.

totally wasting time and being uncomfortable doing it is moral strength? Should she lick the road clean with her tongue as well?

Would it help you to feel comfortable with it to consider that going in would probably have a negative academic impact on her? As she's noted she can't work on the train, and it would make her day so long, it would almost certainly mean she'd either start to fall behind on her homework/individual study, or completely exhaust herself.

This is a real worry for the many areas of the country where the government funding model discourages schools to keep their 6th forms and increasingly encourages everyone everywhere to attend post 16 colleges instead.

I personally think wasting 2 plus hours a day on a commute is ridiculous when there is such a big workload in 6th form but in many areas there are basically no options if you can't pay for private schools.

For that commute to be doubled is unacceptable and given the weather there is no real prospect of working while waiting or probably standing for the journey. That time is much better spent at home studying.

I am appalled at the current model of post 16 provision in rural areas

NRFT but thare are harder options and thern there are ridiculous options. I have experience of rail busses when there were long rail repairs near me, they are a nightmare and I only had to do it once a week. If its not affecting her absence and she is complying with the college requirements, what is your actual problem?

You're not being unreasonable. Is she expecting a lift from you or is it just about her not going in? That's such a long commute for a sixth form college.

I guess it also depends on her chosen subjects, if they're more academic and less practical. I know Drama and DT would have been a nightmare if not physically in. But then again, in English Lit a major part of the course was the seminar style approach which really readied us for Uni with debate, conversation, deeper analysis of texts etc - and I say that as someone else who was on that Oxbridge route through 6th form.

Actually I think it takes much more 'moral strength' to stay focused and motivate yourself to study at home on your own.
And your daughter is using her saved commuting time to exercise, walk the dog etc
As a car-less person who regularly uses buses, it is a nightmare, especially in this awful weather. Buses turn up late, or not at all because they have been cancelled (and then they turn up full, or with no seats left). Waiting 30 minutes in the cold and rain is not much fun.

I think your daughter is using her time well and you should stop pressurising her to get on the bus.

I'm Team DD. Asking anyone to spend 4+ hours travelling on unreliable, uncomfortable buses, in winter, when it's not necessary, is stupid. She's keeping up with her learning so that's okay.

If it's going to take months for the trains to get back up and running I would be tempted to look at other options - car sharing, driving part of the way etc.

Very few people would commit to a 4 hour bus commute for work. I don't know why we would expect a teenager to be any different.

The op literally explains this if you'd read it properly

"This happened last year and actually also earlier this year, and sometimes DD has taken the replacement bus, but she hates it."

To be honest I can't get over doing a 3hr round trip every single day normally, let alone an even longer one so I sympathise with her. Otoh the college doesn't sound that amazing if it seems happy to let students sitting their a levels in 2 or 3 months miss weeks off school without any attempt to chase them up! You'd think that level of absence would flag huge concerns.

Its all a bit weird. Ultimately I'd say she knows what the teaching is like, if she's managing fine studying herself and the college arent bothered then leave her to it. Some of my a level classes were very disruptive and I could have easily covered the course myself in half the time. Other subjects benefit more from direct teaching.

’moral strength’ - OP, kindly, you need to get a grip.

She is doing well, she isn’t going to melt and be unsuccessful in life just because she isn’t putting herself through a long and unnecessary bus journey.

OP, I think if you had included the information that the rail replacement bus journey can take 2 hours 20 mins one way, there would be a different voting result.

Spending 4-5 hours a day commuting by bus would be hellish, and a huge waste of time, especially as she can perfectly well work from home.
YABU to think she should be getting this bus.