School bus only twice per day

[SonnetForSpring]

There is a school bus in our area which is much more cost effective but obviously it is set times, once in morning and once in evening. How do people deal with this, say if their child has to be in earlier for a morning club or later for an after school club. Do you just pay the daily rate for the normal bus service on those days? Thanks, I'm new to all this.

We have this. We are rural. The secondary school is in the nearest market town. There are local bus services, but they aren't great.

If DD stayed late after school I had to pick her up. When she was doing her GCSEs and A levels I took her to school if she had a morning exam, because sometimes the bus was late or it didn't turn up.

The school bus pass which my boys use allows them one journey each way per school day but it doesn't have to be on the school bus. They can use any public bus on same route if needed. They always go in on school bus but sometimes come home on a public bus if there is an after school club. You will need to check the rules for your particular service.

It’s the case round here too.

Bus kids don’t do after school activities unless parents can give lifts, sometimes local parents club together to help.

A local school with a large number of bus kids does most extra curricular activities at lunchtime as the after school take up is so low.

Our local secondary provides late buses 3 days a week so children can do clubs.( Not at the moment with covid as they not doing clubs).

Our secondary has a “late bus” two nights a week for those who’ve done clubs. It takes longer as it basically goes wherever it needs to but it’s an option. Does your school have anything similar?

your kids are dependant on lifts from you usually.

But mine go to a school with loads of school transport coming in from the villages. They have a long lunch break and most clubs happen at lunch time.

DS uses a rural public bus bit of only runs every 2 hours and the timings are terrible to fit in with the school day. If he has a club, I have to pick him up or he’d get home at nearly 7pm!

Do you just pay the daily rate for the normal bus service on those days?

Yes if there is one! Or pick them up after rushing home from work, stressing that you might miss the train.....

My children's school is over 20 miles away and they go on a dedicated school bus.If they miss it there's no alternative other than DH or I giving them a lift.
For after school activities we have ( well...had...) a parents Whatsapp group to arrange lift shares. The majority of parents in and around our village that have children in the school are on it and it's very useful as it cuts the number of trips you need to do considerably. Before it was set up it was quite common to arrive and find out that someone from our village was picking up a year 8 from hockey, someone else a year 10 from choir and someone else a year 13 from chess club. As our children are in different years doing different activities we didn't know about the others but obviously it made sense for one person to bring them all home and to take it in turns. Of course at the moment we can't lift share but as soon as things get back to normal I'm sure we will resurrect tbe group. It's definitely worth trying to collaborate with other parents if you can.

DDs bus pass was good for the normal service buses on the same route too. For the first year or so of secondary we picked her up if she'd had an after school club but after that she'd just get a regular bus if needbe.

Boggling slightly at the idea of a morning club before registration - not sure that fits with teens + bus!

Check if the school has a late bus which you can sign up for on the day. Ours did to solve this issue.

My daughter can't do after school clubs unless I can pick her up. I work unpredictable times and locations. So she can't do clubs unless someone else is willing to bring her home. Or at least take her to the town where she can get a service bus back.

Very rural here so the only bus is the school bus twice a day. No after school clubs, but if extra revision etc I go and pick up from school.

@Honeybobbin

I once worked in a school that was pretty rural so the majority of kids came in on the school bus service. The upshot was that we didn't do clubs outside of school time. Lunch time was an hour, clubs (and detentions!) ran then instead.

This is what our school does. There are a few after school clubs, but mostly at dinner time (in normal times). The school is rural, although we only live across the road!

It's a pain in the arse. I wish school buses would run according to the after school club timetable; those who weren't sporty / musical etc. could always just do homework for the hour until the bus leaves. In our case, there isn't a public bus at all that covers the route from school to our village so if the kids have working parents that can't collect them at 4:30 when the clubs finish, they can't join in with sports clubs etc. as there is no way of getting home (unless they're willing to risk a 4 mile walk along a 60mph unlit country road with no pavements).

Thank you so much for all your replies. Very helpful

Adding to what a PP said do check with the bus company, I only found out that DS bus pass meant he could do one journey each way once a day when I went in to the information office at the bus station.
We live fairly rurally and if he missed the only school bus there is no other bus route from there to here so he'd have to go into town first then get a bus home.

Thank you. I have checked and the pass does work on both school and public buses, so that's perfect. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction!