school buses come September

[lanadelgrey]

Were already a nightmare before C-19 as several secondaries travel on same routes , but with 30 passenger limit in force it will be impossible.
DS's school will have final guidance issued for all September procedures next week but neither they or the bus company appear to have yet thought about how to do this.
I don't have a car and in any case it would be impossible to drive to school that is in middle of 50s housing estate with losts of small wriggling roads and cars parked on either side of the road anyway - the residents would be stuck if everyone drove too

I’m wondering how school buses are going to work. Most pupils at my son’s school live far away enough to be eligible for free bus travel and the school is in a rural village on a main road with little/no parking, so I can’t see how parents would be able to drive and drop off even if they have transport/time. Due to being rural, the catchment area is massive too, so I don’t think that the council will be able to run buses for individual year groups, and the buses are full so social distancing between different years will be difficult.

Also wondering the same - we are rural and I'd say about 75% of the pupils at the secondary school come by bus. Some of them are coming from 15 miles away so it's not like they could just switch to walking/cycling!

I could in theory drive my DD but she gets free bus travel due to a combination of distance plus my low income, so it would be a struggle to absorb the costs of two 10 mile round trips every day.

We are fortunate to live within walking distance of the local secondary.

However, DC2 goes to a tertiary college that pretty much serves all of Cornwall. 100s if not 1000s of students are bussed in daily, 3 double deckers from our town alone. I just don’t see how it’s workable with restrictions of numbers either on the buses or when they all arrive/leave within the same 15 minute window!

It does seem a nightmare all round. Am wondering if any area has come up with plans yet

People wanted normal, you are getting normal.

What is the problem?

School is running their own bus service on common local routes.
They are also introducing staggered start/end times at school which means they can do one run for earlier students and a second run for later students, so in theory the buses will be half full.

@FrippEnos

I didn't want / expect 'normal'
We will not be 'normal' for a while I think?

My two kids with Autism both have a 40 mile round trip on a public bus. Still waiting from County to see how that will work?

The secondary guidance has seemed very sketchy from day 1, it doesn't even seem to account for siblings meaning the bubbles are essentially whole school anyway.

After reading that initial guidance I think they will be bused in as normal, maybe in staggered year groups.

@OldLace

Sill blame those that wanted normal (or as close as they could get).

With your children being on a public bus they may be required to wear masks unless they can get an exemption (although many people are just not wearing masks).

@FrippEnos

do you mean 'still blame those' or 'so blame those'?

Kids with Autism are exempt.
(but they would wear them if I asked them to)
At present I dont see how they'd even get there.

But I see SO many holiday makers not SD or wearing masks that it hardly seems to matter to some people?

I think we all have a duty to be strict re masks/ handwashing, for the sake of each other, whilst trying to get on with life as best as we can?

I suspect they will end up with normal service at our school because the resources to do anything else isn't there.
80% of kids are bussed in to the rural secondary school, no safe walking routes (but we still have to pay due to a technicality) , no public transport
They were already struggling to provide the bus service before CV19 due to lack of coach companies that could do routes and times
School have said they don't know at present

OldLace

Still blame those.

Some people seem desperate to get back to normal no matter what the impact is on other people.

Secondary guidance has been sketchy at best, and I can't see the government willing to pay out for extra buses (they have said that any extra must come form school budgets).

EvilPea the primary school bubbles for pupils back this term don't allow for siblings either.

Our buses will run as normal so our start and end times will be as normal. Don't know how the drivers feel about that

I don't particularly want normal without proper track and trace. Our buses limit number of passengers to 30 at the moment. I think it's about 90 including standing in normal times. So unless there are far more buses, kids are simply no going to be able to get on them - no school buses where we are. They get on the usual ones and given the numbers of kids travelling - our secondaries are clumped around the edges of the city - it was hard enough to get to school before. DS got in about 20 mins before the start of school so that he could guarantee getting on a bus.

We have a private coach company and they are already suggesting a huge price hike will be necessary to accommodate the social distancing requirements. Their last email said £14 a day - per child! No idea what will happen but I wouldn't be surprised if school buses were considered another bubble!

The Govt guidance issued to schools last week covered dedicated school buses. It says dc should sit with their year group and masks from age 11 up. Re general public transport it said schools may need to work with LA to identify where additional dedicated school services may be needed, more details will be set out shortly.

We are stuffed if the school bus doesn’t run in September, ds is starting senior school and it’s a good 5 miles away through hectic traffic. Neither my or dh’s working hours will allow for drop off or pick up.
Sigh.....

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

Section 2 covers the transport

@ThankyouPeter

We have a private coach company and they are already suggesting a huge price hike will be necessary to accommodate the social distancing requirements. Their last email said £14 a day - per child! No idea what will happen but I wouldn't be surprised if school buses were considered another bubble!

Ours are just over £900 per child a year pre covid. I’m not sure what they will be after if they have to run a bigger service.

Ours is about £800 per year and take children to 2 6 form colleges 25 miles away.
The bus may not be a problem,26 kids so some space and same kids every day
But pick up for 3 colleges in the area all go from the bus station,that's swarms of teenagers walking the half mile there.
Social distancing is not going to happen.