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12/09/2008
Blunkett Recommends Yellow School Buses
Dedicated school buses should be introduced across Britain to all primary and many secondary schools says an independent commission chaired by MP David Blunkett.
The Yellow School Bus Commission includes representatives of the main political parties and experts in education and transport. During its year long review of school transport it discovered that the number of children travelling to school by car has doubled in the last 20 years - 41% of primary and 21% of secondary school pupils are now being taken on the 'school run'. This represents around one in five of car trips in the morning peak and on some roads journey times can double.
As well as providing safe and secure transport for children these new proposals would remove up to 180 million unnecessary car journeys per year.
The report estimates that providing school buses to primary schools would lead to financial benefits of £460m a year to parents and road users, with parents alone saving £92m a year on fuel and other vehicle costs. There would also be a net reduction of over 55,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum.
The report envisages funding of up to £10,000 per school for dedicated buses delivered through School Travel Plans, as an incentive for schools to stagger hours and work together to maximise the use of the new vehicles. Parents would pay a fare of between £1 and £2 per day except for those entitled to free school meals and/or currently entitled to free school transport.
The scheme would require a phased introduction and the additional annual cost of such services would be £154m.
The more flexible approach for secondary schools would take up to 50 million more cars off the roads, would cost between £50m-£100m and is estimated to produce benefits of between £91m-£194m per annum.
Mr Blunkett said: "This is a forward-looking, realistic and highly relevant contribution to the debate not simply about transport, but about energy use, climate change and the sensible use and conservation of resources. This is about broad and highly relevant political issues as well as, crucially, the education, safety and security of our children.
"We are proposing a long-term programme which could revolutionise the way we do the 'school run'. But this is not just about the length of time parents spend getting their children to school; it is also about the impact this has on both society and business and enterprise, as well as key issues of energy conservation and climate change."
(CD/JM)
The Yellow School Bus Commission includes representatives of the main political parties and experts in education and transport. During its year long review of school transport it discovered that the number of children travelling to school by car has doubled in the last 20 years - 41% of primary and 21% of secondary school pupils are now being taken on the 'school run'. This represents around one in five of car trips in the morning peak and on some roads journey times can double.
As well as providing safe and secure transport for children these new proposals would remove up to 180 million unnecessary car journeys per year.
The report estimates that providing school buses to primary schools would lead to financial benefits of £460m a year to parents and road users, with parents alone saving £92m a year on fuel and other vehicle costs. There would also be a net reduction of over 55,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum.
The report envisages funding of up to £10,000 per school for dedicated buses delivered through School Travel Plans, as an incentive for schools to stagger hours and work together to maximise the use of the new vehicles. Parents would pay a fare of between £1 and £2 per day except for those entitled to free school meals and/or currently entitled to free school transport.
The scheme would require a phased introduction and the additional annual cost of such services would be £154m.
The more flexible approach for secondary schools would take up to 50 million more cars off the roads, would cost between £50m-£100m and is estimated to produce benefits of between £91m-£194m per annum.
Mr Blunkett said: "This is a forward-looking, realistic and highly relevant contribution to the debate not simply about transport, but about energy use, climate change and the sensible use and conservation of resources. This is about broad and highly relevant political issues as well as, crucially, the education, safety and security of our children.
"We are proposing a long-term programme which could revolutionise the way we do the 'school run'. But this is not just about the length of time parents spend getting their children to school; it is also about the impact this has on both society and business and enterprise, as well as key issues of energy conservation and climate change."
(CD/JM)
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