School children should receive free bus travel before pensioners?

[Itchthescratch]

My child is starting a school where it will cost around £2k for bus travel. This school is local and one of the closest schools to us. The other schools close to us are much worse in terms of opportunities and academic outcomes. I can afford the bus fare easily but I worry that some poorer families will really struggle to send their children to the higher achieving school because of the cost.

I understand that there isn't an endless pot of money but surely it would make sense to give school children free travel ahead of other groups like pensioners? School children are statistically much more likely to suffer from poverty (child poverty is almost double pensioner poverty)and it seems crazy that we aren't supporting social mobility whilst we let all pensioners travel for free on buses.

@Yetonewhy do we means test other things then?

Yes they would. The rich will decide to live within catchment of the good schools driving up house prices and the poor will be stuck with the crap schools that no-one wants to go to because the housing is cheaper further increasing the inequality in society. This is why affordable (or free) public transport is so important. If you can travel, you can get a better education and be able to afford to go to a better job regardless of where you live instead of being stuck on minimum wage in the local Budgens for the rest of your life.

Not routinely, although it was brought in for August. Its coming in properly in a few months. I'm wondering if the OP doesn't realise her wish has already been promised by the PM.

We do, but not as much as we used to. It is expensive and inefficient to manage and it doesn’t always affect the right people. Again I am not really bothered.

@Greebocat when were your dc in school?

Funding is based on headcount, falling rolls means less money for the school which makes it even harder for those schools to “evolve”.

“Government estimates suggest 16.4 per cent of primary places – 829,000 spaces – will remain empty in 2027-28. Last year, the figure stood at 13.8 per cent”

”Fifty-five councils believe more than 20 per cent of primary places in their area will remain empty in 2027-28.”

I didn't know this. That would be great news!

@Yetone what did we used to means test that we no longer do?

Child benefit was universal. Maybe make that universal again to help with transport costs.

It probably makes the most sense to abscond the idea of tickets and fines and introduce a modest tax. It’s costs a fortune to fine people and enforce the fine so the money may as well be spent on free PT. At near we’d all benefit.

Still, getting children transport to school is a basic and important task. Extras need to be sacrificed for parents to do this. It is the responsibility of parents and not the state to pay for this.

Have you considered a bike or even an ebike? That would get her to school much quicker. The hour would be cut down enormously.

Even if the nearest is a crap comp?? That's just setting your kid up for a poor school experience, potential bullying, under-performing etc. We should be encouraging social mobility and letting even the poorest of parents have a real choice of schools for their offspring.

I'd be in favour of free bus/train routes to and from school, or maybe Monday to Friday if that was easier.

One thing though, OP, is your children would not get into this better more distant school if buses were free as so many more people would be applying for it.
Which ultimately would be a good thing for all as it would push more kids into their local school.

Where I am, the catchments of the local schools are about 1 mile so this wouldn't benefit my kids (who walked/cycled the mile to school). No one would get into a school three miles away (apart from the terrible school!)

I think it would be fairer if bus prices were standardised across the country rather than taking from an age group. £1 journey for children would be ok (rather than the £3 mine have to pay)

Bus travel in Scotland is free to all aged 22 and under benefits are reducing household costs and boosting access to work, education, and social activities. However it is cited as a key cause of increased anti social behaviour on buses. I have witnessed fights, rocks been thrown at windows etc. There was also a bus driver in Elgin who died after refusing to allow a drunk child onboard who then attacked him. There are no assurances he won't still be entitled to a new pass.

It is the responsibility of parents and not the state to pay for this.

Its insane how things have shifted.

6m plus council homes existed in the 80s, it was fine for the state to subsidise that….

no it definitely would not make sense- the pensioners you want to pin into there homes have spent a lifetime paying taxes and paying full fare on public transport- why should they lose out and children, who have contributed nothing travel for free- insane.

Your post suggests that wealthy pensioners have this benefit at the expense of children. In my opinion wealthy pensioners have cars or use taxis. I think the pensioners who are using buses and much on the poorer end of society

What studies have demonstrated that using public transpirt rather than walking improves health outcomes for young people?. Regarding pensioners, many can't work long distances due to arthritis and other health problems. While exercises is often good for pensioners most aren't going to able to walk the kind of distance a fit young person can walk.

Can you not put her on a public bus then if its the cost that's of concern?

What difference does it make when my children went to school?
If more local people chose their closest school then the poor schools would get better.
The parents would put pressure on the school to improve their standards.
Classrooms would benefit from a wider range of academic abilities.
More pupils, more funding.

Is it, across the whole country? This news has passed me by do you have a link I could read please.

How many times!!! If pensioners had spent their lifetimes paying enough tax we wouldn’t be in some of this economic mess. The vast majority haven’t paid enough tax for their state pension let alone the NHS or education. Which isn’t a problem when we had pyramid demographics but we don’t have that anymore!!!

Not entirely sure how many buses your child is catching but the current £3 capped fare going down to £2 next year over school term time does not add up to £2k.

They're at school about 38 weeks a year which at £4 a day is £20 a week or £760 a year which is still a lot of money but certainly not £2k.

@Greebocat because you seem to have no idea how schools actually work these days judging by your comments.

How do you magic more pupils when it’s due to falling birth rates?!

To the best of my knowledge, pensioners' free travel is in off-peak hours.

I cannot get het up about free public transport for educational purposes. Not at all. All children deserve the best start possible. It may well encourage more parents to send DC to school on the bus rather than driving them there.

We could easily afford this if we clamped down on tax avoidance in multi-million pound businesses. Let's not punish older, everyday folk.

I think pensioners are more deserving as their bodies are worn (or wearing) out.

Yet you see so many fat lazy kids these days. I've seen them take a bus just to go two stops. If you live within 2 miles of a school you shouldn't be offered free travel (unless disability) as you could quite easily walk or get a bike and cycle.

Politicians keep telling us there is an obesity epidemic and diabetes is going through the roof, perhaps we could start with getting kids into walking from a young age. Change the mentality.

Strange argument considering that pensioners are twice as likely to be obese compared to children. Don't you think their mentality needs to change?