School buses

[Lizfromkent]

Has anyone been involved in lobbying a local bus company to extend or improve a bus service for school children at secondary school.

I have been told by KCC that they think it is okay for children to hang around the local bus station (Folkestone) for an hour waiting for a bus.

I don't think it is a good idea and would like to know if anyone has any supporting evidence.

My DD catches a school bus run by a private coach company which was set up by a disgruntled parent.

Her son was on a contracted school bus which took kids to a variety of Grammar schools all within 5 mins of each other. The bus was also one that could be caught by the public and her son regularly had no seat (for 15 mile journey) and there were no seat belts. This bus service costs £350 a term.

She started a thread on our local 11+ forum asking if any parents were interested in a new service which she had been in contact with a private coach company about. She was innundated with enquiries and easily got the 54 places filled on the new service. The service costs a few pence more a day than the contracted bus but the children have a guaranteed seat and belt.

Your best method of raising this question, is to try to get local councillors to raise the issues with the Council.

My DCs also catch a bus run by local coach company but we live in worcestershire where bus routes are every two hours. We pay about £200 per term for the two kids there and back so it is high cost for us but it may be worth you speaking to local companies and then the council.

is it the major local public transport provider, or a lesser one/coach firm?

can you give me a route number or destination, and times please, OP, and I can ask someone (OK, its DH) who will know all the answers (sorry can't say more than that!)will also understand if you dont want to give out personal details like that online

but the short answer is that "putting on one extra bus" is not as easy as you might think and will involve re-doing ALL the areas timetables for the whole day, in order to have that bus in the right place at the right time.

I assume they have freedom passes - in which case KCC think they have done their bit

OK I'm back - apparently all the folkestone routes run more frequently than hourly except the 10, 17, & 91, and ALL the timetables are already planned round the school peak times. Also KCCs policy is that school children should have to wait no more than 40minutes - so who told you an hour is OK?

does this help? are you absolutely certain about the hours wait? DC not just loitering on the way there and so missing the first available bus - it has been known!

if its stagecoach you can email them via their website

Thanks for your replies. It is half term and I am struggling to get to the computer to do a proper reply.

The bus route is the 10A which leave Harvey but only goes as far as stamford North in the evening even though there is one in the morning which comes from Ashford.

I was told by a KCC transport person that 1 hour was an acceptable wait.

I also now have a Stagecoach contact name to write to to ask to get the 10A extended beyond Stamford North. I know this isn't going to happen oveernight but there are more and more children each year that go to schools in Folkestone from this area.

Hadn't thought of a private bus company. Will have a look into that once the treasures are back at school.

As to DC loitering and missing a bus that could happen and is more than likely as he gets older!

Thanks everyone for your ideas. I have lots to go on. Will keep you posted as to how I get on.

Dear PerpetuallyAnnoyedbyHeadlice

Please can you tell me where you got the 40 mins from? I have just spoken to the Education Department and they said there isn't a time policy. However, the KCC person said 1 hour. If I can find it in writing then that would be a great help.

Many thanks.

sorry Liz we've been away for half term and i only just thought of looking at this thread

without being too specific & dropping him in it, i can tell you this is directly to do with DHs job and he is probably one of the area's experts on the ins and outs travel to school - i will ask him to clarify about the 40 minutes thing

Liz I feel your 10A pain :o
DD finishes school at 3.30 and the 10a goes at 3.45 - on PE days they finish PE at 3.30 so there is a gasggle of girls crying and freaking and trying to get to the 10a in time.....
I pick her up on bus days - cos if they miss it, it's an hour til the next

WHen is he waiting at the bus station? before or after school?

i pick her up on PE days i mean!

and how strange that our kids travel together....

Liz, if I understand your situation correctly, the problem of why your DS has a longer wait is because he is travelling to & from a school from out of catchment area,is that right? did you actually appeal for a place other than the original one you were allocated? Forgive me if I have got this wrong.Perhaps you moved home and did not want to change schools, anyway.....

all the Folkestone buses are timetabled round the schools, to distances up to the border of the catchment areas. i know kids do travel out of catchment a lot - we have been looking at the folkestone grammar incase DD does not get in to the ashford one! but I think it gets the council off the hook as far as provison of appropriate transport goes, if you CHOOSE to go out of catchment,or CHOOSE to appeal to a school other than the one they offered you - "not our problem" is their response.

the "no longer than 40minutes wait" is what the council tell the bus operators they need to provide, but again does not apply to those making journeys into other catchments

theres always the train but thats gonna work out £££ more than the freedom pass, which we are SO lucky to have in kent!

BUT,the good news is, the 10A timetable is up for review/improvement in the near future, so do write and put your case!

HTH

There is precedence for stagecoach running appropriately timed buses to serve out-of-catchment kids (my DD uses one)

Grimma, I think the difference is that they (bus operators) are not obliged to/encourged/requested to, by the council - or it may be coincidence that its a well used route and has a good/frequent service. some routes do link different towns of course, the schools may just be lucky with where they are situated

are you same area as us too BTW? differnt areas will vary in level of service due to overall area size to cover and what the local council's view on public transport is

Yes, I think they do it purely because it makes commercial sense because Preston has no grammar schools and Lancaster has a pair of good ones. They have 2 (over) full school buses serving the route.

My point really is, if the route beyond catchment has a large/growing number of potential customers, it might just be worth the OP contacting stagecoach (or whoever) to point this out, purely on commercial terms.

the thing is, here in kent all secondary school kids get a bus pass for just £50 a year, valid on all buses in the county! and then the council pay the bus firms a pittance for carrying all the extra customers that generates, so it would not be financially worthwhile to them to do it as you suggest, but it would be worth them knowing if there are a growing number of people needing to use a particular route as they could get the council to subsidise the route to provide a better service, especially rural/low frequency routes

Oh right. We don't get subsidised bus passes and in this instance the free market works.

we get free bus pass for dd as we are more than 3 miles from closest suitable secondary school (grammar)

The is a bus from my house to DDs school that deliberately has an inconvenient timetable
because the bus company is licensed by the council whose schools we are all escaping from.... right PITA