To get a bus refund

[sherryat4]

DD,17 is at college. We have to pay £80 month for the bus, which is organised by the college. DD passed her driving test on Monday and will now be driving to and from college. We are paying her insurance and fuel while she studies, which amounts to around £320 a month. The college has said that we are not entitled to a bus pass refund and have to continue with our monthly instalments, as the cut off point for refunds was 1st October (to give students the first month to see if college life was right for them etc) There is £550 left to pay. The only way we don't have to pay is if she leaves the college and withdraws from her course. AIBU to think this a completely ridiculous policy, especially for college students who are all taking their tests during the academic year and wont need a full year of bus travel. Admittedly I obviously didn't read ts & cs beforehand, as didn't for the life of me think that this would be the case. I am thinking I should just cancel the direct debit anyway.

Yeah that is absolutely ridiculous. No way should they still want payment for that!

Why would she not still get the bus at a fraction of the cost of driving?

You’ve chosen to take a yearly bus pass with monthly directly debits, obviously that has less flexibility than a monthly or weekly pass.

Your fault for not paying attention to what you were signing up for.

Maybe she would be better still taking the bus for college, means less mess on with all the things that can crop when you drive places.

This was the case when I was in 6th form. Even when we could drive we mostly got the bus together to save petrol and only drove if the bus wasn’t convenient (eg early finishes).

It was pretty obvious you wouldn't be able to just cancel it though. It's a discounted price because you took out the yearly pass. I'm surprised given she was clearly having lessons and the plan was obviously always going to be passing and driving to college that you would take it out in the first place to be honest.

Not sure why you wouldn't still just use the bus though to be honest even now she's passed surely it's cheaper than driving.

Surely you are paying for a seat on the bus for the entire academic year but rather than ask for the whole payment up front they allow you to pay in installments of £80pm. If say 10% of students drop out due to passing their driving test during the year then they would be running the bus at a huge loss if they gave refunds. So I would say that unless you can find someone to take on your DDs place on the bus then YABU to expect a refund.

Why can't she just get the bus for the rest of the year? No college student needs to drive there and back (unless for disability reasons) and the vast majority don't have parents able to fund their vehicle anyway!

So there's a great public (or shared) transport option, which you've already paid for, but yet you're enabling her to drive herself, at greater cost...

We should all be using public transport where we can - getting cars off the road as much as possible, for reasons that everyone knows about.

Sixth formers don't need to be able to drive themselves to school/college, so to me the solution is clear.

Awaits massive drip feed about how the bus is totally unsuitable etc etc etc...

Personally I'd probably cancel the DD and see what happens. My DD went to the college where I worked and I'd often give her lifts to college & home but she still had to get the college bus just a couple of times a week which still meant £80 a month for us

The bus is quite restrictive in terms of times... so if she has late starts she still has to get there early and early finishes she is hanging around waiting for the bus. Bus isn't cheaper if she is driving anyway! She still has her car and associated costs. Fuel is probably the same or less than bus pass, plus I had to take her to bus stop as not within walking distance.

Surely it just makes sense for her to keep using the bus, especially as it works out cheaper?

I drive, but often use public transport instead, we should all be trying to get in the habit of it if we can. I appreciate public transport can be awful in this country and isn't an option for everyone, but if she's already got the bus pass and the service is convenient, I can't imagine why she'd choose to drive instead at greater cost?

We are very rural and do not have a public transport network close to us. The bus is a specific bus provided by the college. It is an agricultural college, and most of the students are on farms etc and rural and need the provided transport. We still had to drive her 8 miles round trip a day to the bus pick up point. She needs her car for living where we live and will still have the costs of running her car with insurance etc even if she gets bus to college. The fuel itself is cheaper than the bus pass. Don't be so judgemental about why we need a car for her etc. Not everywhere has public transport

So on the days she doesn't have a lecture/class first thing, she can use the library to do assignments etc. Same at the other end of the day. Or she can find other ways to occupy herself - use the gym, walk into town, etc etc.

Where there's a bus option to get to education, that should be the default (rather than driving). If we are encouraging 17 year olds to be driving everywhere as the first option, then we're setting up yet another generation who see cars as the only/main way to get anywhere.

I am very well aware that public transport in this country is SHIT, and expensive at that. But in this instance there is a shared option, which was perfectly fine before Monday, so it will still be perfectly fine next week and beyond. If she'd failed her test (and the next, and the next), she'd be happily using the bus. And if you/she were so confident of her passing the test this early in the school year, you shouldn't have signed up for a year's bus pass!

For everyone saying why she just doesn't keep the bus as cheaper. No it's not cheaper! We still have the cost of insurance etc, and the fuel works out cheaper than the bus pass. We are rural, with no public transport links and so driving is a necessity. Her course is a mixture of 2 full days, and then part days and so driving herself allows her to only be there when she needs to be there and no hanging around.

I am very well aware that public transport in this country is SHIT, and expensive at that. But in this instance there is a shared option, which was perfectly fine before Monday, so it will still be perfectly fine next week and beyond. If she'd failed her test (and the next, and the next), she'd be happily using the bus. And if you/she were so confident of her passing the test this early in the school year, you shouldn't have signed up for a year's bus pass!

This sums up what I was trying to say well. How come there's now about 20 reasons why she can't possibly use the bus that presumably would be still a perfectly reasonable option had she not passed her test.

Look the simple fact is if you want her to drive then let her drive but you of course should still pay for the bus pass it's not the college's fault you didn't read the terms and conditions and they are still providing a space on the bus which you've paid for.

I think your only option would be to 'sell' her seat on the bus to another student if you know somebody who didn't get one.

Otherwise, it's the expectation that you'll pay for the year if that's what you signed up for.

Cross posted!

I grew up rurally - very rurally. As in our closest neighbour was half a mile away. And had to get the provided bus to 6th form. The bus stop was not convenient. But we got into a routine and made it work. And sometimes it was a PITA.
But even when we passed our driving tests, we weren't allowed to drive to school (policy of the school), so we just had to get on with it. Loads of extra cars travelling to the same place, and needing parking, wasn't practical, so we all had to get the bus and work around the inconvenience.

I now live rurally - not as rural as before, but not where there is decent public transport. So I get it.

I can see that driving would be more convenient for her - but if that was always your plan, you shouldn't have looked more closely at what you were buying. So to answer your original question, no it's not reasonable to expect a refund.

Could you sell the ticket on to someone else or is it specifically in her name?

Which makes it even more ridiculous that you signed up to a year long contract but that’s no one else’s fault.

You have effectively bought a years pass and are on a payment plan.

That's standard I'm afraid

It is an ag college, which is mainly practical's. No assignments and def no town nearby! There are a few facilities but mainly for the live in students. She works for us on the farm and the livery yard and so her late starts/early finishes means she can get on with duties here, especially over winter. We were still having to take her to bus stop 8 mile round trip. TBH we didn't know she would pass so soon, as earliest test was next march, but managed a cancellation.

I asume the college still has the costs associated with running the bus and as you bought an annual bis ticket you can't now say you don't want it.its annoying but yes you will unreasonable if you cancel the direct debit

Agree. But the bus was the ONLY other option of getting her there and didn't expect her to pass so quickly, or even get a test booked before next year. Lucky to get a cancellation. It is my fault for not reading terms. It's the terms I am thinking are silly. I can see it from both sides though.

The terms aren’t silly, they are entirely logical. The college needs to arrange the bus since it is put on specially for the students to get into the college and not a normal running service. Therefore they need commitment on the seat in order to allow your child to use it.
If you stop paying for your seat the bus still costs the same amount and the college take a financial hit, why would they leave themselves open to that?