Council provides Q&A web page for parents affected by school bus changes

And in an effort to keep parents more informed, Bucks County Council has set up a special Q&A web page with all the latest information.

Last week the County Council announced the roll-out of over 1400 commercially-run school bus places. These places will convert from the current arrangement of being commissioned by the Council to be provided by external, commercial operators from Monday 4 November.

This has made many parents unhappy, to view our story on this issue click HEREThe council says it has set up some commercial routes Q&A webpages to 'help parents and carers understand these changes and address any questions or concerns they may have about how the new commercial routes will work.'

To view the web pages click HEREA Buckinghamshire County Council spokesman said: “The new commercial school bus routes being introduced in November are a combination of dedicated school passenger only services and services that are open for use by members of the public as well as school students. We have been successfully placing children onto public routes for some time as part of our standard practice, and many other councils across the UK operate on the same basis. The use of public bus routes is the first step in our school transport application process and it is only if a public bus route is not available that applications can be made for school transport. In practice, we find that the majority of passengers using public school routes are school students.

“Some of these new services will run on a different timetable. Where this is the case, we are informing passengers in advance, to make sure they understand the changes to their particular service and are prepared for when the changes come into operation on 4 November.

“The benefits of using these commercial bus services are that ticket prices are often cheaper for all users of the bus services and the services are more sustainable in the longer-term. Importantly, these services provide additional travel options for the wider community including those who only have access to public transport.