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.

But if there is public transport, the onus would be on OP to pay for it. Legally it is the distance below which they do not provide free transport. Theoretically, it is walkable. Whether any of us would want to walk it every day, is another matter.

We all have to do this absurd dicking about with the clocks twice a year and one of the justifications always given is so that children don’t have to walk to school in the dark. So I’ve assumed they are not walking in the dark, or why do we bother?!

I'm just going to have to assume this is a joke.

@Etak123 ok nobody should have to cross a dual carriageway without the appropriate pedestrian crossing in place. Is that better?

I agree. Children aren't crows as you say.

YANBU but on the flip-side I'd actually expect non-disabled children in secondary school to be able to walk 3-4 miles to/from school in the right environment.

The assessment criteria should be more robust and have a points system for the shortest route vs the safest route and decisions made from there. As schools/addresses don't really change much it wouldn't take too long for a database of risk criteria to be established by the council which can make automatic decisions that can be challenged for disability exceptions.

Parents for my daughter's school kick off about their precious darlings crossing a dual carriageway...this dual carriageway is 30mph speed limit heading in/out of the city with numerous traffic light (not just pedestrian light) crossings. These precious darlings criss-cross the same dual carriageway frequently for social purposes. In reality they think 2 miles is too far for their child to walk and whilst there's a bus service that will collect/drop them off they don't want to pay for it.

I grew up rurally so the school bus was a given (literally 8 miles to the nearest secondary school and no pavements for any of the 60mph roads) but I'm raising my children in the city which brings out all sorts of territorial oddities which is an eye opener.

We are less than 3 miles but the kids all get a free bus as council agrees that 600 children walking along a busy A road with no path, then trying to cross a dual carriage way with no crossing twice a day is unsafe.

If it is genuinely unsafe, appeal.

What is unfair is calculating school distance "as the crow flies".

It's a good job they don't calculate walking distance as the crow flies then isn't it

Don't confuse distance for admissions tie break with distance to qualify for free transport. Two separate measurements.

You may be able to appeal this on the basis of it being an exceptionally dangerous walking route. All the children in a cluster of villages around us get transport as the roads are single track rat-runs with no pavements or lighting, and there's no public transport.

I actually think 3 miles each way is too far to walk 5 days a week even if the route is safe. That’s an hours walk each way whilst carrying textbooks, PE kits, instruments or whatever else is needed for school that day. Most schools won’t allow students to wear trainers so it’s a walk in hard leather shoes as well which probably aren’t the most practical or comfortable for walking 6 miles a day. How many adults here are genuinely walking that far to/ from work each day whilst carrying textbooks and wearing uncomfortable smart formal shoes and clothing?

Not all routes are going to be flat or on smooth ground either. An hours walk is fine on a nice clear day but walking for an hour in the dark when it’s pissing down with rain or when it’s blazing sunshine etc which we will inevitably get at some point across the school year is pretty miserable.

Cycling would be a better option but obviously that depends on how safe the route is to cycle. It also assumes families can afford to buy their kids all bikes plus appropriate safety gear and locks etc. Not all parents are going to be able to afford bus travel each day or will be able to drive so it is probably the most disadvantaged kids who will actually need to walk those distances.

I think the cut off should be more like 1.5 miles which is a half hour walk each way and I think more reasonable, although even then I can see it’s difficult if the route isn’t safe. There should be some responsibility with local authorities to ensure that walking routes around schools are safe for students who aren’t provided with transport.

Because the school buses are set on purposeful routes to collect all the rural children. It's not public transport. You do understand there's a difference between school transport and public transport right?

I take it you've never tried using public transport in a rural setting - at best it's a joke, at worst non-existent. Walking 2 miles to your nearest bus stop and waiting, then waiting some more, then another 30 minutes of waiting before you realise no bus is coming and the next one isn't due for another 2 hours...but you can't check live times/cancellations because there's no mobile signal.

That's not remotely adequate for school purposes (or any other purposes beyond pootling around the countryside but that's not the discussion here).

Our natural time is GMT / winter time that means sun is at its highest mid-day.

We move in the summer so folk can enjoy evenings and use less artificial light, nobody needs light at 3am but appreciate having that extra hour at 9pm.

Op really should appeal on safety grounds as its an unsafe route.

Your complaint really depends whether there is a bus, how much it costs and if you can afford it. We don't know any of those things. My DC are about 2.5 miles from school but it's not a nice walk along a busy road. However the buses cost £1.10 per day however far you travel, we can afford it, so I don't think it's unreasonable for us to pay it.

If she doesn't qualify for free transport is walking the only way she can get to school?

I know other people have asked about public transport but you haven't answered.

I wouldn't necessarily consider an underpass safe for a teenager.

I would not want a child doing this. I used to have to cross a dual carriageway regularly - no crossing, just wait for a gap and run across. I hated doing it.

Not all underpasses are the same. Where I used to live there was an underpass once you came out the trains station that virtually everyone used. Office workers, parents, kids, everyone.

Distance for admissions is usually calculated as the crow flies because that is less likely to be challenged with parents claiming the LA has missed a footpath or similar. Distance for free transport is always based on the shortest safe walking route.

You have not said if there are buses available for the is journey. Hard to agree or disagree without this information.

You're right, that would be spectacularly unfair. They don't calculate school transport eligibility this way, it's done by the distance of the shortest safe walking route.

I wouldn't want my 11 year old to cross dual carriage ways and walk along unlit roads, by herself, on a daily basis. OP YANBU. However you will probably just have to pay for DC's transport.

Of course. Hence why I said I wouldn't necessarily consider an underpass to be safe.

OP says the school bus comes down her street. She hasn't explained whether they have refused to allow her to pay for a place on the bus for her child, even though lots of people have asked.

Is her issue that there are no seats available, or is she just refusing to pay the travel costs?

Because... you know... travel isn't free. Even if you live somewhere with amazing public transport, you still have to pay to use it (unless you are very young or very old).

(Also, I don't understand why anyone would live somewhere with absolutely no public transport if they can't or won't drive. I hate cars, we don't own a car, therefore I choose to live somewhere where I can get around on foot/public transport.)

As you say you "opted" for the school 2.2 miles away I presume you were refused transport because it isn't your catchment school?
It's a common issue in the area where I live. If I had sent my children to our catchment primary, about 1.5 miles away we would have got free transport as no safe walking route but we chose the school another 1.5 miles away which is along the same road but were then ineligible to use the bus as they weren't attending the catchment school.
Likewise secondary. We'd get free transport to our catchment school, school A, but along with the vast majority of families in our area we chose school B which is a similar distance in the opposite direction. This suits the LEA very well. The demographics of the area mean that school A is oversubscribed from within catchment but there are relatively few families with school aged children close to school B so they only fill 50% of their intake from within catchment. So the choice most of the families in the middle to go to B helps both schools. You'd think they'd just change the catchment areas to reflect what actually happens, but then the LEA would have to pay for the fleet of private buses that brings in hundreds of out of catchment pupils to school B, instead of the parents.🤔
It is our choice (and it's the better school) but it solves a big headache for the LEA at the same time. It's a cost saving dressed up as parental choice really. I think the fair thing would be that if you would have been entitled to free transport to your catchment school but go to another school in the same LEA that is also not walkable then you should get a voucher of the same value towards transport costs. I appreciate that's unlikely in the current financial climate though.

appeal, appeal, appeal if you can. You'll be surprised how often transport appeals are successful, we've just succeeded with one but a different scenario. You are so close to the 3 mile mark too!

walking 3 miles is ridiculous, walking 3 miles on unsafe routes is even more ridiculous!

I wouldn't like to cross a dual carriageway unless it has light-controlled crossing points, and I'm an adult. Nor would I want to walk regularly along an unlit path and through a known dogging area.

Only on Mumsnet would you have someone suggesting this is perfectly fine.