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Anger over rise in school bus fares
PARENTS are angry they will now have to fork out £750 in bus fares to send their children to Driffield School – because of council cutbacks.
Bus fares for Bridlington children who go to Driffield School are set to rocket by 400% after East Riding of Yorkshire Council axed its travel subsidy for destinations out of the catchment area of local schools.
The council says it can no longer afford to part-fund the travel costs, which it says it is not obliged to provide.
Parents of an estimated 70 children are furious at the price hike, due to start in September.
They are staggered that a new 3.70 cash pay-as-you-go replacement for the 180 a year pass – pushing the cost up to 750 a child – won't even guarantee their children a seat on a bus.
Debra Hatt, 51, of New Burlington Road, Bridlington, who looks after her grandchildren – 13-year-old twin girls Jade and Rebecca Norton – will see their travel costs shoot up from 360 to 1,500 a year.
Mrs Hatt said: "We were expecting some kind of increase, but not this.
"We will have to seriously cut back on things, even think about moving to Driffield. We will not change the girls' school. Their education comes first.
"I cannot believe despite this charge of 3.70 a day they can't guarantee a seat on the bus. It is a return fare, but they might only be able to travel one way and be stranded."
Another parent angry at the news is Lee Williams, 36, of Auburn Close, Bridlington.
He and his wife Emma, 32, will have to find 570 a year more to send their daughter Jessica to school.
He said: "It is going to be difficult to find the money. It is difficult enough these days as it is.
"We are perfectly entitled to have the choice of where our children go to school, but it now seems you only have the choice if you can afford to pay for it."
He and other parents are also worried there may not even be enough bus seats for their children to travel and they could not get to school, or be stranded and unable to get back.
Until now, the parents were paying 180 for a subsidised annual pass to travel on two public service buses contracted out by the council – the 121 and the 122.
The 122 runs from Octon and Thwing to Driffield School, picking up some children as it goes through the outskirts of Bridlington. But from September that will not longer be possible.
A council spokesman said: "The numbers of eligible children on the route from Octon, Thwing and elsewhere to school are such that we have no choice but to re-register this service so that it no longer serves any part of Bridlington.
"This decision is taken with regret, but in accordance with the Home to School Transport Policy we have to ensure that all eligible children have a seat."
The 121 service, started by the council as a service for a regular group of adults who work in the Driffield area, runs from the centre of Bridlington.
The council said as more children went to Driffield School it had to put on a larger 53-seater.
Since then numbers have continued to rise and from September that will be replaced by a 74-seat double decker bus.
However, the council has said if this is not sufficient for the numbers travelling no further changes will be made and there is "a possibility that some children will not be able to travel". The council said it is only required to provide transport to school within catchment areas.
In Bridlington, that means children under eight years of age living more than two miles away, or over eight three miles away, from either Headlands or Bridlington School.
Driffield and Rural ward councillor Felicity Temple said that while the council had made efficiency savings of around 7.5m this year alone in a bid to preserve front line services such as education, cut backs to other areas of provision such as school transport are an inevitable part of that process.
"I haven't had any concerns raised from any residents in the Driffield and rural area but as ever it's always a balance between supporting services that we have to provide like education with reducing funds," said Coun Temple.
"We are such a huge local authority. Obviously in Hull it's easy because most people live within a couple of miles of their local school but in the East Riding we have big catchment area."
"It's testament to the excellence of the school that people are travelling so far but sadly in order to try to protect that excellence we can't afford to give the money for bus fares," she added.
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Weather for Driffield
Saturday 04 February 2012
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