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.

All the snarky comments about parents choosing further away schools instead of their local. I'd like to pint out this isn't always an option. I would have loved mine to go to our village primary. A 15 minute walk to school. However sue to the constant building in all our local villages, the primaries are all over subscribed and we have to got the next village over. A 40 minute walk along a badly lit, busy road or a bus each way.

And a lot of elderly people are isolated and lonely which contributes to poor health outcomes. Being able to get out of the house and travel does help to combat that.

Have you seen the waiting times for driving tests?

An old colleague of mine was a hedge fund manager earning over £100m in a good year. He still got the bus to the station after work.

You can still have a negative Progress 8 score and Good Ofsted grade. Most of the schools local to me have this.

Either it's a safety issue or it's not. If it's a safety issue then we should be scrapping the free bus and using the money to retest pensioners. A free bus pass isn't enough to tempt lots of old people to not drive so we are effectively turning a blind eye to unsafe drivers. How can you disagree? If it's not a safety issue then there is no reason why pensioners should be given a free bus pass over anybothe group in society.

Yes, ours is 1200. Not even high achieving school, just the one with space and a decent SEN team. It’s a lot. The bus service is appalling as well.

In the 1970s. (I was born in 1963).

Went to the village school which we walked to, but at secondary free coaches would pick us all up to take us to school in the next bigger village. For sixth form I could have continued but chose to go to a college in the city (opposite direction) and a bus pass was provided, no questions asked. I just assumed it would have been the same all over the UK.

This was Leicestershire, where were you?

It doesn't seem right to charge 5 year olds, gosh!

In my circle, pensioners are the wealthiest group.

I think everyone (including) pensioners should pay for buses, even it is at a highly subsidised rate for some groups.

Did you see what I said about health outcomes?

Paid for by us lot in England, where we don't get free bus travel for children. But there are 50 million of us so it is probably more affordable with a population of 5 million. Not moaning, btw, but Scotland's tax base is subsidised by England's tax base so Scotland, having fewer people, can have more free at point of access facilities.

@EmmaOfNormandywhy possibly? It’s uncharted territory as we have never had these demographics. The NHS & State pension model aren’t affordable if we don’t have a pyramid scheme. The only solution is a shed load of more tax.

Don't even get me started on parents of young children on low incomes that can't afford a car having to pay bus fares for themselves and their children to get to school.

It must vary from area to area . We always had to pay a bus fare at primary school. Our secondary school wasn't on a bus route so we all cycled ,about 4 miles.
My own children walked to primary and cycled several miles to secondary.
The roads were busy and they often cycled in the dark as did I as a child. You make sure they have road sense and good lights.

Pensioners should not have passes taken awayfrom them. For some it is a lifeline to get their shopping and for their social lives. Keeping people independent is important.

I think all children up to the age of 18 should get free bus fare to school or college.

The cost of school bus passes here are extortionate. My son starts college in the next town from us in September. I work next to the college but not the same hours as his course. There is only one bus per hour, so only technically the one bus that will get him in on time. This bus is always too busy for all pupils to get on so you can't even guarantee getting on it.

This bus is just short of £1000 per year. The only other option I have is to arrive an hour early for work each morning and take him in. Then wait an hour and a half after I finish for him to come out.

Apparently from January 2027 bus travel will be free for children 11-16 in Greater Manchester (it’s already free for 16-18 year olds) but our local government does appear to have an obsession with buses!

School buses should be free for sure, kids have to get there and not everyone can afford the bus fares. Not every village has a secondary within walking distance and many towns have a set up where the secondary will be 3-4 miles from some homes.

I don’t agree with only giving kids from low income this, it should be universal.

I think your beef is with state education,by the sound of it, rather than pensioners' free bus passes. As you feel so strongly, what are you doing to help improve your local schools,apart from making sure your child goes to the best one?

£2k per year sounds a bit excessive; is it a taxi?

People over 60 hold nearly half the wealth in the UK

More than 1 in 4 is a millionaire

And our retirees are some of the richest in Europe

Now obviously there is a lot of disparity amongst this group but we means test everything else

This is true for all groups. Studies have shown free travel for young people decreases isolation and improves health outcomes.

In wales, bus journeys for under 16s are £1. How much are they in England?

Health outcomes could easily be worse if young people stop walking much as a consequence of free bus travel.

Do the right thing take public transport. Be late (or hours early) and pay through the arse.

It’s funny if it wasn’t so sad. They want up to be more eco but busses are slow and late and more expensive than the day to day running of a car most times.

We pay £20 a week of ds’s bus pass that’s already the youth price once he is an adult it would be £30 a week. Can put petrol/electric in a small run around for less than that and get places much faster and take more than 1 person!

I agree that school children should get free transport to and from school. I guess the reason the elderly get free travel as they are not travelling in rush hour.