8:45am Monday 13th July 2009
By Telegraph & Argus
The decision to axe the Yellow Bus services to several Bradford schools is a disappointing one.
While it is understandable that services which do not seem to be fully subscribed should be the subject of some kind of review, it seems a little short-sighted to scrap these school bus routes wholesale.
The Yellow Bus scheme has been a successful one since it was introduced in Bradford, following the more well-known American model.
Getting young children to school can be a constant headache for parents, especially for those families where both parents work, or for single-parent families.
Allowing children to walk to school can be dangerous, especially in the winter months, and there are constant complaints when parents drive their children to school, putting more traffic on the road and creating hazards on the roads outside schools.
The bus system was aimed at combatting both these problems – giving pupils a safe transport model at the same time as keeping unnecessary traffic off the roads.
Under-subscribed these services in question might well be, but is there not a solution that can be reached to ensure some form of transport is available for those who do wish to use them?
The bus company should go back to the drawing board, and perhaps look at minibus services or putting on routes that take in more than one neighbouring school.
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