School bus fare increase

[8u5W8nk3r]

So my daughter is in 3rd year of secondary school and she gets the school bus to school. It has got gradually more expensive each year. Year 1: £340, Year 2: £500, Year 3: £550.
I received an email this week to say that the bus fare from September will increase to £950! This is due to the school stopping subsidising the bus service.
I can’t afford this, she has 2 years left and I don’t know where I’m meant to find almost £100 a month.
Public transport isn’t really an option, although it would be cheaper it would be over an hour journey each way with at least 2 buses and at least a 10 minute walk, more depending on which bus route she would take.
I feel like my only option is to move her schools, but this will be so difficult for her in her GCSE year.
I am also worried about somehow making it work and then there being another huge increase next year.
I don’t know any other mums at the school.
Is there anything at all I can do against this?

How far away from you is the school? Are you eligible for transport. That would depend on whether the school is more than three miles away and it’s the nearest to your home.

If your preference was a school further away, the onus is on you, unfortunately. It does seem to be a massive increase.

Speak to the school- they might have a bursary travel fund you're eligible for. Is it a distance she could bike to? Or bike halfway and then get the second bus?

Are you in the Sevenoaks area? I’ve heard of that council removing bus subsidies. Sympathy but a lot of people have to pay to get their children to school. Can you cut down elsewhere? Packed lunches? Sell on Vinted? I know it’s not great…

The school is far from our house and in a different council area, but many girls travel to the school and one of the big selling points was the “reliable and competitively priced” bus service … as quoted on their website!
The school is an academy so funding isn’t from the council.
It’s so unfair that it was a massive selling point that the school use and then they have whipped it away with only months to go to be able to find the money and no parent consultation.
She doesn’t own a bike and I doubt I would be able to convince her to cycle to school, I’m not even sure the school has anywhere secure to store a bike.
She is my eldest of 4, 2 of which are in private nursery, there is very little we can cut back on.
It looks like I might be contacting other schools to see if anywhere closer has space for an in year transfer.

It isn’t an additional 100 a month, it’s the additional 400 over the course of the entire school year that you haven’t budgeted for. So about 40 a month? is there really nothing in the budget that could go?

I would be looking to change the younger children’s nursery before I made the older child change schools. or do you drive? Could you drive her some days and she takes public transit as a backup?

That's a big increase but I would do what you can to keep her in the school since she's going into GCSEs.She has probably already started some of the syllabus and chosen her subjects - if she moved now she might not be able to get the same subjects and the exam boards could be different.

The public transport option doesn't sound too bad, it's not unusual for pupils to travel for over an hour in London where we are, and 10 mins walk is fine. I'd try out the route on a few days and see how she gets on.

I've known parents band together and organise their own alternative bus service in cases like this (yes, I know you say you don't know any other parents, but you can probably ask the school to send out letters to all the parents of children getting this bus). But that depends on whether an alternative would actually be cheaper, which it sounds like it might not be.

If the alternative is 2 buses, can you drive your daughter to the place where she has to catch the second bus? How far actually is the journey? Can you do some sort of car share arrangement?

Right now, I just can’t find a way to make it work. Other than sucking it up and paying it.

I have a full car of a morning, so I’m unable to offer to car share with anyone else.
DH leaves for work before we’re up as he has a long commute, so he can’t offer any help.
I could potentially drive her to a closer bus stop on the way to school and double back on myself to drop the littles off at school and nursery before heading to work, but I have no chance at pick up time as I’m in work myself.
I don’t even think moving the youngest to a nursery by the school would work, as their nursery is close to my work and I am sometimes cutting it fine picking them up by the time I manage to escape.
We had booked a caravan holiday for next year and looks like that might be the cut that we’re making, we were paying it monthly and that will almost cover the increase in bus fare. How miserable.

@8u5W8nk3r , speak to the school and ask if there is a bursary fund that can help you. They are use to requests for help.

She isn’t eligible for free school meals, so I doubt she would meet the criteria for a bursary. DH and I have decent jobs, just 4 kids and a lot of outgoings for childcare.

If this is the catchment school and you live more than 3 miles away then the LA have to provide transport.

From what you are saying, it sounds as though your DD isn't at the catchment school, so you need to pay for transport. Unfortunately if you choose to send your children out of catchment, then you need to factor in bus fares. If the cost has gone up, that's on you to fund the difference

Try contacting a local taxi firm. My SIL sends her dc to school in a taxi because it works out cheaper than the school bus, since it's a daily trip at set times the taxi firm worked out costing for her with a discount. Definitely worth checking.

In 1 years time will you have reduced nursery fees to help out so it's for 1 year? School budgets are having to be cut because the NI rise has not been fully funded and the teachers pay increase of 4% for next year is currently unfunded, ie to be found from the school budget. Do ask at the school office because the school needs to know the hardship the bus fare rise is causing etc.

Ask your local area council if they can partially subsidise it for people in your area. Our parish council pays the difference between the bus to school A and school B in our village so that people don't have to choose school A because it's cheaper to get to.

Similar happened to us and we went with the public transport option which is far cheaper. It takes dd approx an hour to get to school less than three miles away but she doesn't mind it.

Id start practicing the public transport option, that doesn’t sound terrible to me unless there are other issues with the route. Maybe there’s someone she can meet up with on the way. Things are just a lot more expansive nowadays than they were a few years ago so everything is exploding sadly.

As PP have said, the public transport option sounds ok. I know OP you said it’s “not an option” but it sounds like your need to reframe what’s reasonable in your mind. Two buses and a ten minute walk to school sounds better than moving schools just before GCSEs.

Just wondering why she doesn’t walk, as that would be quicker?

She could in theory but it's a bit of a weird route between towns and I don't think she'd be able to convince her friends to do the journey with her. She walks about 15 mins down to our bus terminal.

Name change fail?

?

Do you have to sign up for a full year, if not could you do the lighter, summer months using PT? An hour's travel isn't so bad (not great but not bad) when it's light and not likely to rain. Then the school bus in the winter months.

As PP said I'd also contact a taxi form and see what they say for a regular trip. Could you tie in with a friend or two en route to make it cheaper?

I've realised you were talking about a different situation, sorry! I thought you were the OP.