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Further education

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Original poster

Bus pass cost for 6th form

62 replies

GoodnightJude1 · 01/09/2024 12:04

My DD has chosen to go to the 6th form attached to the Secondary school she’s attended for the last 5 years.
She will be getting the same bus there and back as she has done in the past, although now we’ve had to apply for a ‘spare seat pass’ this allows her to travel on the school bus to 6th form as long as there is space.

We have to re apply for the bus pass each term (with no guarantee of her getting a seat)

Thankfully, I’ve just received an email saying there is a spare seat on the bus and to follow the link to confirm and pay…..

£265!!!!!! per term!

Is it just me or does this seem a lot of money per term? Obviously I’ve paid it and will continue to do so but it seems expensive!
Just wondered what other people are paying? Maybe I’m just behind the times…..

OP posts:
Waspie · 28/02/2025 14:00

My son's is £220 for the term. It works out to £1.70 per journey if he goes in every day of term and gets the bus to and from school. When it was £2 per trip we didn't bother as it wasn't any cheaper (I was picking him up two days each week last term), but now it's £3 per journey it is worth buying.

I do think it's steep for school kids though. Particularly when the Uni students get a far better discount on their bus pass.

Shintoland · 01/03/2025 09:50

DD's bus pass is about £700. The other college we are in catchment for is substantially more. Both more than 3 miles away so not really walkable. There are no school 6th forms nearby - our county has put all the provision in massive sixth forms so students are forced to travel further.

It's a lot for every family to find when there is very little help available, and was a big unexpected cost.

Redlocks28 · 01/03/2025 09:56

Yep-my DC's bus pass is £5.20 per day x190 days.

Chatoz · 22/07/2025 20:56

My daughter is going into the sixth form and we got the school bus free but now we be told we have to pay. The place is now available but it’s £1038 per term or 8 installment of £129.75 which seems a lot of money to get her to school! Not sure how we will afford it to be honest.

Lovemybunnies · 22/07/2025 21:01

Ours is £333 per term. It works out cheaper to pay the normal fare weekly.

Kendodd · 22/07/2025 21:35

£1,550 for the year.
Do I win?

Kneeslikethese · 22/07/2025 21:50

Bloody hell! Free here for all 16-18 year olds, just the initial £10 fee to get the pass. Not just for use for college either, valid evenings and weekends too all over Greater Manchester

MyNameIsErinQuin · 22/07/2025 21:53

It’s about what we’ve paid for y7-11. Same for 6th form. Have you somehow not paid for y7-11?

Redlocks28 · 22/07/2025 23:12

£990 for the year here!

wonderstuff · 22/07/2025 23:23

£3 each way for all bus journeys here in Hampshire, so £6 a day for college, and they’ve cut the buses to 4 a day, some of which frequently either miss out our village, are overcrowded or up to an hour late! The annual pass is £900 but as dd is only in 4 days a week singles work out slightly cheaper.

We pay £500 a term for DS to get mini bus to his school, but a) it’s not catchment so that’s on us and b) it does mean he reliably has a seat and gets to school and back so although more expensive I begrudge it less.

I think they should get free or at least subsidised travel to 6th form, just like school.

Could be worse though I guess, I read an article a few years ago about how there’s no 6th form on the Isles of Scilly and they get no support, it costs families thousands to send kids to board.

Disco2022 · 22/07/2025 23:29

Not sure if this is relevant to the OP but may be to other posters. There is a 16-19 bursary which provides financial help to facilitate young people staying in full time education. Every P16 provider should have their policy on their website. It is means tested but the earnings required for some help are far higher than with pupil premium/fsm for most areas/providers, and it should be allocated on a sliding scale, so for example if you earn 40 thou, you still may be entitled to a percentage of the bus fare.
The other thing to look out for which I recommend to sixth formers in our area you can get a free bus pass on the month of your birthday!
Again may not be everyone but worth a check.

postitnot · 23/07/2025 15:06

Gobimanchurian · 01/09/2024 16:28

Ouch 😫. First thing I thought was 'but it's free?!?' In greater Manchester all 16-18 yo's can get a free bus pass for a one off £10 admin fee. Lasts the two years of sixth form and covers all of GM.

But you have to pay for the tram which I find very annoying! Where we live the buses aren't great to get to college so the tram is the best option, so we have to pay. I think it's supposed to be adult fares before 9.30 too, but DD always buys a child ticket and seems to be ok with it...

June2008 · 24/07/2025 12:43

We pay £700 per year in one or two installments. There are two buses each way per day for each route. And it does allow the use of any college bus on any route. The closest bus stop is one and half miles from our house and college is 14 miles from there. Its the nearest place to do a-levels so not much choice really.

Pellabear · 24/07/2025 13:11

Can't believe some of the prices people have quoted. It's £800 a year here which is bad enough.

We only live 6 miles from the sixth form but the school bus doesn't come as far as us so our DC would have to get an extra bus to get into town to then catch the school bus 🙄

We share the sixth run with another family at the moment as the buses are such a faff and unreliable. They should be much cheaper as they're so crap!

Ohmygodthepain · 24/07/2025 14:24

DD went to a college in the next town rather than her 6th form. Bus journey was £3.60 each way which conservatively is £345 per term.

Where we live she could get any local bus for £2 so it was a shock to be paying over £7 a day. Especially when there was no reduction for exam weeks and revision weeks (where she was told to WFH) or y13 when she finished in May but was paid up to July.

mamagogo1 · 24/07/2025 14:57

My dd had a student bus pass, you could buy it with proof from college, was £295 for the year 6 years ago admittedly. Public buses anywhere in the city. here it’s £945 now but rural and covers wide range of areas plus on demand minibuses, every town has a 6th form so there’s an option to have zero travel bills, school is within 45 minutes walk of every house in the town and you can cycle from outlying farmland and villages

pencilcaseandcabbage · 24/07/2025 15:15

When I had 3 in school (~7 years ago now), they upped the cost to nearly £800 per year per child - at that point this was 10% of our family take home pay. And if they went to an after school club so had to catch a later bus it was another £3.20 a day for under 16 and £5.60 a day for age 16+. We stopped using the bus altogether and I did all the drop offs/pick ups instead. I know your costs are high, OP, but they are actually cheaper than many places. I hate it. It definitely put kids off applying for the better schools where I lived then.

RedFatball · 15/08/2025 12:54

Ours is currently £950 per child per year, I have to pay for all three of them. Luckily eldest has now passed her driving test and her insurance for the year was only £1400 so I'm off the hook for one year...

Marcipix · 02/09/2025 10:46

£1,320 per year here. It’s about 5 miles on busy roads with no pavement, so completely unwalkable.

Treeleaf11 · 02/09/2025 10:58

£1600 a year here. South East. Private coach company. 8 miles away, rural roads. It's tge nearest 6th form but in a different county so there isn't a school bus or any public transport. The service is only in existence because a group of parents organised it.

Rituelec · 02/09/2025 11:00

Sounds like ours in suffolk. Same price. Ridiculous

Lutonsgirl · 02/09/2025 11:17

That's cheap! We are in exactly the same position but ours is over £400 per term. Its actually cheaper to get the public bus, which is the plan.

HushTheNoise · 02/09/2025 11:22

Free in Scotland but we have higher taxes.

CooksDryMeasure · 02/09/2025 13:14

Our buses have just been ‘re zoned’ and it will now cost £400 a term for a bus pass.

CasparBloomberg · 02/09/2025 13:25

June2008 · 24/07/2025 12:43

We pay £700 per year in one or two installments. There are two buses each way per day for each route. And it does allow the use of any college bus on any route. The closest bus stop is one and half miles from our house and college is 14 miles from there. Its the nearest place to do a-levels so not much choice really.

I think we are either at the same college or at least a college with the same deal, but we are only 3 miles from college so it makes it slightly more expensive than the private transport we used for school.
The bonus being for ours is that it does cover the entire bus network for the whole school year so that's weekend trips to town, cinema, meeting friends and even days out to other local towns all covered now.