Commute to work so much shorter when schools are off

[Ifo]

I believe that traffic levels have gone up since parents were able to choose which school their DCs go to. Parents apply without thinking about how their DC get to school. Yes car.

It’s half term here and my journey to work during term time is 1 hour - 1 hour 10 mins. This week, I left home 15 minutes later and arrive 10 mins earlier than the ETA upon leaving.

This is even with more people doing hybrid/WFH.

i think admission policy should revert back to postcodes. Except for in DC with severe SEND.

Is there no transport provided?

Unless you are in an area where there are many more school places than kids, those will most likely be children from SEND schools where they HAVE to travel for miles to the nearest school that will meet their needs. or more likely Independent schools who can take kids from anywhere. For general state schools, they have to take kids from nearest to furthest away (apart from a few small categories, like looked after kids or those with SEND). Even if a child applies for a far away school, they would be unlikely to get it unless they met priority criteria.

This! OP, why should parents/children make different school choices? If your commute bothers you so much why don’t you choose a different job?

Parents don’t apply for schools not thinking about how there going to get their child there. This doesn’t come as shock to them on Sept 1st. Most parents that I know that drive to school do so because they have to be at work straight after. Not all parents choose the car because they cba to walk 20 mins in the morning it’s because they can’t afford to loose even more time. 20 min walk back home plus a commute to work would take too much out of their working day.

My DH will very likely drop my Dd at school when she starts secondary school as he has to drive past the school on his way to work. If he’s still in the same job, we won’t be making her walk 50 mins whilst he drives past just to avoid upsetting other road users.

I’ve been commuting between 2 cities for over 30 years and it’s always been the case that traffic is much lighter during school holidays.

There’s at least 15 secondary/academies in all directions which are nearer

Yup. My commute is usually 40 mins by bus, half of it standing. Today it was just over 25 mins and plenty of free seats.

I don't know what the answer is. I'd say there should be more school bus provision, but if children are attending schools from all over the place then that might be hard to organise.

Nope. Some children a mile or so down the road get taxis provided, but seeing the way taxi drivers drive, im not putting my young children in a car without them without me.

It’s been a dream driving to work on my 2 office days this week, 25 minutes rather than an hour. Blissful!
In theory I could take the train to work but it’s a 30 minute walk from where I live to the station, an 18 minute train journey for £15 (peak return) and a 15 minute walk from the other end to the office. With the added bonus that the trains are often delayed. Oh plus it’s pissed it down relentlessly for months. If I drove and parked at the station it would save time but cost an additional £15.
No thanks. Cheaper in my car and far more comfortable. We have free parking at work.

This is what I thought!

It’s that “my journey is more important than other people’s” mentality - “I want other people restricted in their choices to enable mine”

That was true thirty years ago

The school run traffic drives me mad! I don't believe for a minute that all those cars are necessary. Some of course are for parents that have to go on to in person job roles. But not all of them.

Why are so many children taken to school by parents in cars? From the age of 9 I walked to middle school over a mile away on my own as my mum took my sibling to the lower school which was elsewhere. I was the 'furthest away' and called for friends along the journey. By the time I reached the school we would be a group of 5-6. Do people not do this any more?

There’s stuff that could be done to help with this - integrated public transport is one thing (so that local authorities can plan where the bus routes go & have some control over ticketing). Better rail would help as that would give some commuters a faster way of getting to work than the car. Building trams might help too.

Making streets safe for walking & cycling is another - that would mean councils could start to aim for the majority of secondary age pupils to travel to school independently. That would really help but might not be popular (even though judging by my local social media the people who object to cycling routes often also object to children being driven to school).

Council transport departments thinking about school catchments / intake rules when planning road changes would help too (this sounds so obvious but I’m not convinced my council really thinks about this unless a school is actually on a street being altered). 2 secondary schools near me have pupils travelling from the other side of a motorway where the pedestrian crossings are poor - I can’t blame parents for not wanting DC to use them.

Then there’s church & private schools who accept children from further afield. Should they be running buses or doing other stuff to reduce their traffic?

That said, people driving into a city do need to accept that they are likely to face traffic jams - and just as they find children a problem on their journey as it slows them down, motor traffic is also a problem is children travelling to school especially when drivers speed & otherwise drive dangerously. I don’t think it’s helpful to generalise about why they live where they do as sometimes people have no choice about this, but other times they choose to live in commuter towns for a bigger garden or other reasons. That said, I do find that some local motorists to me are completely unreasonable in their expectations of my council - there are just too many people wanting to drive in for work & the council just can’t magic up extra capacity in a heavily built up area (& even if they could that wouldn’t work as it would just lead to more people driving). I just wish that they would put their energy into supporting the local rail user groups, as improving rail is where there’s the most scope for improving journeys.

It's not really only barring SEN, is it? Children suffer from disabilities just like adults that have nothing to do with their education, some have problems walking, some have long-term painful conditions like endometriosis that you would probably never know about. And continuing on the theme of children being people, sometimes they are tired from activities and sometimes their parents just offer them a lift to be nice or because they are already going in that direction. I also doubt you were keeping track of the registration numbers of all of these vehicles, to know that it was a few dozen of the same children who were being dropped off for school every day, rather than each of the hundreds of children who attend a secondary school being dropped off on average once every month or two.

That’s really unusual so likely the majority aren’t full so are desperate for any dc.

So they are primary age? Is it State and are you in the UK? I thought transport to nearest school was provided if it was >2 miles away.

I wantedy child to go to our local primary, a ten minute walk away. We were given our third choice, a twenty minute drive away with no direct bus. Not everyone chooses to have their children in a non local school and to have to drive.

Can you not see that you’re part of the issue OP - why do you choose to work so far away? Get a job you can walk/cycle/public transport to…no different to parents driving their kids to school!

Nearly everyone I know has one or both parents off this week. I’ve been off all week and Dh has only worked 2 days.

We drive to school, but it’s because there are no walkable schools. We have to drive. I don’t really know anyone who drives from far away, though lots of us still live several miles from school. Those of us who are home are not rushing out the door at 8:30am. Traffic is a nightmare at midday though.

Agreed. I also want people to walk whenever they can and not drive to a road near the school an hour ahead of time, leaving their engine running, when they could walk in 10 minutes.

The catchments for most of the primary schools in my town are quite small and most people do not have to drive, but if they don't, how else can they show off the oversized SUV?

I live in Scotland where schools where most kids to their local catchment area schools.

there is still a huge difference in traffic between term time and holidays

it makes no difference

We live over three miles away from our local school but it’s less than three miles as the crow flies so we, along with many other children are not eligible for the school bus. The school is not on a bus route. The children have to somehow cross a main road. We all drive our children to school, we don’t want to but there is little choice. We’d all be happy to pay for a seat on the half empty bus but county won’t allow it.

Right. So you've just given loads of reasons why it's cheaper and easier to use the car to get to work.
I reckon a lot of parents have the same reasons for taking their kids to school in the car too.

Are they any children waking the route?
Those with parents unable to drive them? Or are parents having to give up work so they can get their children to school. Crazy.

I am in the “16-18 compulsory education/training” period where you have to pay for transport. It restricts the opportunities of lower income families.

Previous generations weren't routinely requiring both parents to work full time to keep a roof over their heads. The difference in housing costs vs wages is the single biggest factor in so many societal changes now...with both parents working, often ft and using wraparound care or just about managing to get in on time, cars are the only way.
Add to that school allocations and ofsted gradings and never ending pressure to be more involved and seek the best possible options rather than just whatever is closest, it's unsurprising few kids amble along to a school at the end of an uncongested road anymore.

This!