In total, almost three quarters (72 per cent) are reviewing or cutting one or more areas of school transport.
Sophie Allain, Campaign for Better Transport's bus campaigner, said: “School buses are vital to reduce congestion and pollution, especially at peak times. In some areas parents could have to walk almost three miles each way, twice a day, just to get their children to school. Parents able drive instead will add to traffic problems, but for quarter of households who do not have a car this will not be an option.”
Councils are obliged to provide free school transport for pupils between five and 16-years-old if their nearest school is more than three miles away, or two miles if they are under eight. There are also provisions for children will special educational needs, and for some children from low income families. However school transport provision over and above this is provided by local authorities on a discretionary basis.
Campaign for Better Transport is calling on the Government to give councils extra funding to ensure that children can get to school safely and working parents are not unfairly forced to give up work. The charity would like to see new government guidelines that mean a route can only be deemed safe if a child of 11 is able to walk it alone and councils need to be made to do more to create real alternatives, like safe walking routes and cycle paths.
Sarah Osborne, a mum and district councillor from East Chiltington in East Sussex, has been spearheading a campaign against cuts to school buses in her area. She said: "In my area the council is making children and parents along a route that the police have deemed potentially dangerous. Given that it is unlit and does not have a pavement, the police advised me that no more than four adults should walk in single file at once. Not all parents in rural areas have cars and it takes almost four hours per day to walk children to and from school, how are they supposed to work even if it were safe to walk?”
020 7566 6480
