To think the 3 mile rule for school transport is unfair and not fit for the current time?

[WellThatsMeScrewed]

My eldest does not get transport to her secondary school because we live 2.89 miles away from her secondary school. Supposedly she can walk this.

It would involve crossing 3 lots of dual carriageways, walking along a unlit busy road.

It’s just not fair.

The 3 mile rule is from some archaic time where there was hardly any traffic.

@mycatisannoying

A parent not wanting their child to walk 3 miles to school, along a dual carriageway and lonely pathways has absolutely nothing to do with 'a nanny state.' At least find out what phrases mean before submitting disparaging posts.

Do you walk 3 miles to work? Then 3 miles back? No, I thought not.

It does have to be three miles of safe walking route.

It can't be three miles as the crow flies, across motorways and rivers, or three miles along the hard shoulder of a motorway.

If there isn't a safe walking route of under three miles from op's house then she can appeal.

And even if there is a safe route, that doesn't mean her dc have to walk it. They can cycle, pay for a bus or organise lift shares with other families in similar positions. It just means the council won't pay and you have to sort out your own transport, which I don't think is a ridiculous expectation when there are so many other demands on their budgets. Healthy teenagers having to make their own way to school shouldn't take priority over social care, road resurfacing, new services etc imo.

I got the same. DC starts Secondary school in 2 weeks and the school we got it’s 2.7 miles walk.
We walked it on Thursday and it took 75 mins including all short cuts, walking between fences and all bushes.
Not a nice walk either through rough area in some parts under motorway bridge etc.
Thre is not bus service unless you mean 3 buses changes ( rural area) and buses go once in 45 mins, so to go on bus it would take about 2 hrs and cost money which we don’t.
The other school we put as no.1 is 25 mins walk away easily, however we did not get in even on a waiting list, she was on no.35.
So I’m dredging how that all will be…

and the rain will not only make them wet, it will make their books wet, as well as ruining their shoes!

I think I'd argue the safety element of that walk with the council. You applied for the nearest school and didn't get offered a place.

Yeah it's fine for kids to walk 6 miles a day/30 miles a week in the dark/pouring rain/freezing cold and crossing dual carriageways - just take it slowly and be a bit careful and you probably won't be mown down by a huge truck going 60 miles an hour and really not expecting to see school children in the road on a dark, rainy day.

Why I used to walk 10 miles a day in the snow and ice with no shoes, cross 5 motorways and climb a fly over. Honestly, it's fine.

Can you pay for a seat on the school bus? If you are in receipt of universal credit it is a reduced fare.

My local council allowed my children to use a bus stop that was 400 metres from the house as it ensured that we were 3 miles away in order to get free transport. Is this an option?

Hi @WellThatsMeScrewed . I had a similar problem and won funding for my DCs journey to school.

Mine would had to get a bus at 6:30 in the morning or walk along roads without a pavement or through unlit woods and farmers fields.

I quoted from this official document to argue my case:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance

The distance to me isn't an issue,nor the dual carriage way as they should know how to cross safely my issue would be any stretch of unlit areas / areas with heavy coverage of trees etc especially for young girls.
Sorry but street's need to be safer and walking routes for children and young women need to be safer.
My daughter does 1.5miles to her high school 1 very busy 40mph main road going to 30mph (but let's face it many don't slow down until far into the 30mph zone) to cross. But non of her route is unlit or in an area where she could be grabbed and dragged and that is a reality that unfortunately has to be considered. If yours does have areas like that then 100% challenge

100% this. 3 miles could be totally different depending on what kind of area you live in! I live in Cornwall and totally agree!

I actually think it should be 1 mile for primary kids. LOs 4/5/6 years old with short legs walking a mile at their pace probably takes 30 - 40 minutes.
Some of the wee kids are exhausted by the end of the school day without a long walk before and after

You honestly think it's ok for 11 year olds to cross duel carriage ways?

You honestly think it's ok for 11 year olds to cross duel carriage ways?

It entirely depends on whether there's a safe crossing

If you are in a city, chances are, there will be

Oh right, fair enough. I'm thinking of the cities I've walked around and can't really think of any where school kids would cross a duel carriage way, but of course there must be loads in London and the other massive places.

I was thinking of Norwich, Cambridge, Hull - all quite small cities.

I never have either! The nearest dual carriageway to me is about 10 miles away and it’s the A1 - no-one should be attempting to walk across that!

I would have a "Yellow Bus" school transport system, wouldn't be for everyone but would ensure far less school car run traffic & improve air pollution.

Making it safer for all, inc those walking to school.

Other countries do it.

Ring roads around cities are usually dual carriageways along with traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. People cross them multiple times a day.

And it is fine for 11-year-olds to cross dual carriageways with proper crossings. Less risky than crossing an ordinary busy road that does not have a crossing.

I was responding to a poster who found it incredible to believe that someone had never had to walk across a dual carriageway. I was pointing out why that could easily be the case - we don’t all live in or around areas with roads like that!

That would have been me. I appreciate that not every area is the same, I’ve lived areas where sections of dual carriageways may as well be motorways, but I presumed most people travel about and would have come across them at some point, particularly in built up areas.

It’s amazing the number of posters on here that assume people not only choose their homes, but choose them after they have children.

it doesn’t seem to occur to anyone that maybe people are in council houses, so don’t get to pick where they live. Or that they rent so they have to take what they can get and may have had to move multiple times over the years. Or maybe, they’ve lived in the same house for years, way before they had children! It doesn’t seem to occur to them either that houses in the catchment areas for good schools don’t tend to come up very often, and when they do, they are expensive. Not everyone can afford to live 3 doors down from the best school! And if you live close to the primary school, you’re probably a long way from the secondary school.

i don’t care how many people profess 3 miles isn’t too far, I don’t believe a single one of them would walk that EVERY SINGLE day themselves, there & back, to get to work. Certainly not carrying heavy bags/lunches/sport equipment/musical instruments etc. At my kids secondary school, they set 9-12 pieces of homework a day when they first start (it does ease off to around 6-8 but apparently they like to throw them into the habit of homework immediately upon starting). This takes a good 2-3 hours a day. So if my kids had to walk an hour to school, they’d leave at 7.30am, arrive home at 4.50pm, then he doing homework til 7/8pm every day. That’s a long day for anyone and doesn’t take into account after school clubs, part time jobs for older children, breaks for meals, socialising time with their friends.

I’m also surprised no-one has mentioned bullies. We know bullying is a major problem in schools, and the routes to /from school are ripe for this because the school can’t do much about it. An unlit road with tree cover etc - I can’t imagine any kid being bullied would feel safe on that road.

OP - YANBU and I hope you get somewhere with your appeal.

"It’s amazing the number of posters on here that assume people not only choose their homes, but choose them after they have children."

I'm sure most people can imagine how you might end up living just inside the 3 mile catchment of a school and not qualify for free transport.

But I feel that there are lots of demands on council budgets and can't think what I'd like to cut so that teenagers don't have to walk or cycle to school.

Nobody is saying that they have to walk or cycle every day (although locally that is normal, which is probably colouring my opinion) but that it then becomes the parent's responsibility instead of the council.

OP can pay for public transport for example, or get into a lift share with other families, or split a taxi with three other families, or take dc herself on some days. In our area, all of these options are in use by families on the periphery of the catchment area.

I suppose I feel that free transport for teenagers who don't want to walk or cycle - or take any of the other options - is in the category of 'nice to have but not essential.'

And if they shrank the mileage op would be pleased but someone else would be grumpy that they lived just inside the mile or two mile radius.

And, if all of this is intolerable, there may be other schools that op's dc qualify to attend with free transport.

Healthy teenagers having to make their own way to school shouldn't take priority over social care, road resurfacing, new services etc imo

I don't disagree, but I am interested in the fact you think resurfacing roads comes above kids getting to school. It's a (no doubt unconscious) bias in favour of the car.

However, I don't think free buses are probably a priority IF there is a safe walking/cycling route. And in terms of homework, there should be a lot less of it!

Buses aren't an antidote to bullying @Tillow4ever, they can catch them too.