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Original poster

London parents, did you know about public transport changes?

189 replies

SilverDragonfly1 · 28/05/2020 16:52

If so, apologies for bringing it up again but I haven't noticed it being discussed here.

One of the bailout conditions for TfL is to stop allowing children free travel on buses, meaning you may need to add bus fares into your budget next term. This is temporary, but I can't find any indication of how temporary. I have to admit, free travel was what allowed us to keep above water as a family when my son went to secondary- if it hadn't been there, his first choice school would have really impacted our budget.

If anyone has better info about the decision than me (not hard really), please share.

OP posts:
SE13Mummy · 28/05/2020 20:38

There've been a couple of petitions going around since the announcement was made. It's a supposedly 3 month suspension but even that will run to the end of September so there will almost certainly be families who've made decisions about secondary schools based on free bus travel who will now struggle. The ZIP card system will have to change if there's going to be provision made for those children from low income families and I'm sure that will be expensive as well as being a complete faff. That won't help the families that don't qualify for pupil premium but are already on their knees either. I foresee a number of the most vulnerable Y6 pupils never making it to secondary because it's yet another expense that their families don't have spare money for.

Original poster
SilverDragonfly1 · 28/05/2020 18:13

There will have to be some sort of provision made- I would be astonished to find the government had realised that when they made the condition though. So it will probably be some time before it's agreed where the money will come from in terms of whether the gov just pay the councils what's needed or demand that the money received from residents is further stretched.

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Malmontar · 28/05/2020 18:10

@christophertracy I think this applies to them having to provide private transport for a pupil, but I may be mistaken. I think they will have to reverse this once schools go back, unless they change it to just FSM receiving it. Which will be an admin nightmare.
I'm dreading the tube fares going up. I don't think they were reasonable. Comparing it to places out of London is silly too. Owning a car is much more affordable out of London and bus journeys are generally much longer and buses less packed so it's more expensive to run the routes. There will be a lot of families who will really struggle because of this.

ChristopherTracy · 28/05/2020 18:02

this is what the council currently say:
Where the school attended is not accessible within a time tabled journey of less than 45 minutes to a Primary School, or 75 minutes to a Secondary School by which the Transport for London free travel concession applies throughout the entirety of the journey, assistance may be available.

It goes onto say 2 miles for under 8s and 3 miles for over 8s.

Original poster
SilverDragonfly1 · 28/05/2020 17:55

I don't know. I certainly don't envy anyone trying to wring money out of our council...

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ChristopherTracy · 28/05/2020 17:49

I in fact didn't know this. Does that mean that local authorities on the edges of London will have to start subsidising secondary school travel as they do up the road in non London boroughs if you are over say 3 miles from school?

gnatgnu · 28/05/2020 17:23

It’s all been done in a pretty shady way - it’s very hard to find any details at all. This will impact us too Sad

zonkin · 28/05/2020 17:20

Yes I did know about it. It was in the news. Allegedly it is temporary. However, I do have my doubts about that. It does impact our family.

Lordfrontpaw · 28/05/2020 17:14

What a surprise! I suspected as much but didn’t have the details. I know 3 friends with elderly parents living alone who visit several times a week (driving across town every day at the moment to drop off shopping and yell through the windows). The new congestion zone thing will cost a fortune.

Original poster
SilverDragonfly1 · 28/05/2020 17:06

Lordfrontpaw, already confirmed that fares will be rising above inflation :(

OP posts:
Original poster
SilverDragonfly1 · 28/05/2020 17:05

Sorry to hear that Rey. I only found out about it in passing- with everything else going on and only affecting London I think the news got buried rather. Although I think London is often perceived as a place for the rich, there are a lot of families whose lives are about to be made a bit harder because of this condition. Especially those who have already suffered financially with CV19 in other ways.

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Lordfrontpaw · 28/05/2020 17:02

Yes - and the whole congestion charge extension, some roads being closed off, freedom pass use time change...

This is getting silly. Transport charges will rise too no doubt.

These may be temporary - but I can’t see them undoing it.

Reythemamajedi · 28/05/2020 16:58

I didn't know this. Shit. I have two that use the bus daily.

SpongeBobsPineapple · 28/05/2020 16:56

Hi, yes I did know this but I didn’t know it was temporary. I’ve not been able to find any information either.
It doesn’t impact us as a family but I was chatting to friends out of London who were rather pleased London would be dragged down to their level! We must be about the only place where children don’t pay and bus fares are reasonable for adults.