Home to school transport - September 2012

Paying for your school bus pass

You can pay for your school bus pass securely using your debit or credit card.  You will need your Routewise customer number (the 4 or 5 digit reference number on your letter) to access your bus pass information.  The first time you use this application you will need to create an account.  This will allow you to check the progress of your application and speed up future orders.

Please read our terms and conditions.

Pay for your school bus pass.

New policy

This applies to home to school transport arrangements from September 2012.  For information see our existing policy valid until July 2012.

A new policy was approved by Cabinet on 27 February. It follows 12 months of consultation and nearly 40 meetings with parents and headteachers to allow them to express their concerns on the proposals, many of which helped shape the final policy. The reason for the review is Buckinghamshire needs to achieve savings of over £1.4m from home to school transport which meant making changes to current policy. Full details of the consultation.

For further support and information on the new policy please refer to Frequently Asked Questions and Guide to the 2012 Transport Policy.

Qualifying for free home to school transport

If you live in Buckinghamshire we will provide free transport if your child is aged between ‘rising 5’ and 16 years and meets one of these conditions:

1. Attends the nearest appropriate school and the distance from your home to the school is more than the statutory walking distance.
   
   The general assumption in the legislation is that the nearest suitable school for transport will usually be the geographically nearest school by age [Primary/Secondary] and general type [Mainstream/Special]. There is no general legislative entitlement to transport to the nearest school of a particular type e.g. by gender, faith, structure [academy, grammar, upper, free school] or catchment.  Historically Buckinghamshire has made more generous provision than this in that it has also provided transport to a child’s catchment school over and above the requirement to provide transport to the nearest school.
   
   The nearest suitable school for transport purposes means the nearest school the pupil is eligible to attend with a place available during the normal admission cycle.  It is generally considered that an upper school is able to provide an adequate education for a grammar qualified pupil.
   
   
2. You are a low income family. To qualify the child will need to be entitled to free school meals because their parents/carers receive one of these benefits:

• Income Support
• Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
• Employment Support Allowance (income related)
• Child Tax Credit with income less than £15,860.00 (unless you claim Working Tax Credit) - form TC602(A)
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit

If you are not entitled to Free School Meals as outlined above another benefit that is accepted is entitlement to the maximum level of Working Tax Credits, this means that there is no reduction due to income in the Working Tax Credit elements section of your HM Revenue & Customs paperwork for the current tax year.

Children aged under 11 from low income families are eligible if they attend their nearest qualifying school and live more than 2 miles, but not more than 6 miles away.

Children aged 11 – 16 from low income families are eligible if they attend one of their 3 nearest qualifying schools and live more than 2 miles, but not more than 6 miles away, or the nearest school selected for religious reasons more than 2 miles but not more than 15 miles away.

Discretionary travel

Discretionary travel is offered to pupils who do not qualify for free home to school transport. Transport is not guaranteed and is only offered on existing school bus services where there is spare capacity.

To apply for a discretionary transport place, please fill in the discretionary fares scheme application form in the related links below and email it to maintrans@buckscc.gov.uk If you have a child going into Year 7 in September 2012 then a completed form must be returned by 1 June 2012.

Boarding points for home to school transport can be found in the related links below in ‘school bus stop information’.

Once you have fully completed the form and sent it back to Amey Client Transport, your child will be added to the discretionary transport waiting list. Amey Client transport review the school bus transport on a regular basis to offer any spare seating available so there is no need to contact the team to check progress of your application.

Statutory walking distance

This is 2 miles for pupils up to 8 years of age and 3 miles for older children. The distance is measured by the shortest walking route along a road or made-up footpath from the nearest pedestrian access to the school site to the nearest entrance on the boundary of the pupil’s home. Please note, this is not necessarily the same distance as used for admissions purposes.

Children who fulfil one of the criteria but live under the statutory walking distance may be entitled to free transport if we agree there is no route of less than 2 or 3 miles walking distance that would be safe for a child to use with an adult. Street lighting is not taken into consideration.

Contacts

For general enquiries on bus boarding and alighting points, discretionary travel, 16+ renewals, bus passes etc:

Client Transport
Buckinghamshire County Council
County Hall, Aylesbury HP20 1YZ
Tel: 01296 387439 open from 8am term time and 9am non-term time
Fax: 01296 383749
email: Ameytrans@buckscc.gov.uk

For enquiries on eligibility and entitlement for free home to school transport, exceptional transport and 16+ travel:

Admissions and Transport Team
Buckinghamshire County Council
County Hall, Aylesbury HP20 1UZ
Tel: 01296 383250
Fax: 01296 383016
email: admissions@buckscc.gov.uk

Alternative Travel Choices for children and young people.

It is important that families do not think of driving as the only alternative to local authority home to school transport.

Your school may have a School Travel Plan that identifies and addresses congestion, safety, health and environmental issues associated with car use on the school journey.  They may organise campaigns and projects, run initiatives and events and promote activities to reduce single occupancy car use for the journey.

Please contact your school to find out if they have a Travel Plan and what initiatives and projects they organise to promote and encourage sustainable travel.  The Travel to School leaflet and school travel planning website have information that you may find useful.