A Hove mother has started a petition calling for free bus travel for secondary school pupils.
Tina Phillips was shocked to find that her son’s two-mile bus journey from their home near St Ann’s Well Gardens, Hove, to Blatchington Mill School, in Nevill Avenue, cost £40 a month.
Since setting up the petition last Wednesday (6 September), more than 400 people have signed it.
Brighton and Hove City Council will only fund free travel for those more than three miles away from the “appropriate school” such as students travelling from Whitehawk to Longhill, in Rottingdean.
In her petition on the Change.org website, headed Make School Bus Travel for Kids Free in Brighton, she said that not every child was allocated the closest secondary school to their home.
The petition said: “The school locations make it hard for kids to walk. In a lot of cases the walk takes up to an hour, sometimes more. The cycle lanes on roads leading to the schools are almost non-existent and the city is hilly.
“The British weather often leaves children with no choice but to cram on the bus for which they are forced to pay.”
She said that, in contrast, bus travel was free for all under 16s in London.
As a compromise, she suggested limiting free travel for under 16s to weekdays during term time from 7am to 9am and from 2.30pm to 4pm.
She said that one of the biggest frustrations since her son started year 7 was that there had been days when the 5B bus was too full to take all the children from their stop in central Hove.
She said: “I don’t want to pay for an annual or monthly ticket if he can’t get on the bus.
“I know the cheapest is an annual which is £410. Then there are half-term holidays. We don’t take buses at the weekends. We walk everywhere.
“If he can’t get on the bus and I’ve paid £400, then that would make me more cross.
“Travel to school should be subsidised or free – or schools should be a walkable distance.”
If more than 1,250 people sign the petition, it will qualify for debate at a meeting of the full council scheduled for Thursday 19 October.
Or he could walk, cycle etc etc.
According to Google Maps a bus journey only saves 5-10 minutes versus walking from Blatchington Mill to St. Anne’s Well Gardens on a 42 minute walk, so with time waiting for a bus it is probably faster.
Though kids already have to get up early to get to school at a reasonable time and the bus will probably get there earlier and save the inevitable rush.
I think that kids have a hard time of it anyway, and a long walk to (and even worse, from) school is really not needed.
I was a secondary school teacher, and form tutor for many years, and know how difficult mornings are for stressed families, even before the latest set of financial and other stressors hit them.
You might find it interesting that there is some academic evidence that supports children are simply not good learners in the early morning. Although the big resistance to that is of course most jobs start at 9am, so schools have to cater for that historically.
I think it’s important to read the title of the article first – ‘Hove mother petitions for free bus travel for secondary students’. You see the mention of secondary students generally. I salute this mother for looking out for other kids who have to travel further and are from low income families. Of course, a change would help her individual case, but she is helping a huge amount of kids and families that need support by leading this campaign.
Excellent suggestion to increase the scope of free bus travel. An even bolder move would be to make buses free for all users, subsidised out of the ringfenced transport fund and topped up through a modest increase in council tax.
Agreed.
What ring fenced transport fund would be used pay for this?
And as for “modest council tax increase” the government places limits on how much councils can increase it by and the budget is already under stress to cover things like social services and children with special needs
Plus there are many other transport priorities other than this such improving services to poorly served areas.
The transport fund that already exists, is funded by parking and other revenue, and is ringfenced by the council to be spent on transport initiatives.
The government only sets the maximum increase of 3% without the need to hold a local referendum (which admittedly in Council-phobic Brighton & Hove would probably fail). Councils with adult social care responsibilities can increase their council tax by an additional 2%.
Yes, there are other transport priorities, but priorities do not need to be competing as an “either/or”. Joined up thinking and bold initiatives are required to get residents moving in public transport.
Oh the fund that pays for the senior cizens and disabled peoples bus passes.
The fund that is already under pressure to fund even those.
I agree with the first comment.
Make them walk. Why do they deserve free bus travel??
Family stress??
Life is all about stress.
Having a nice walk in the morning is not stressful.
Trying to get a bus on time is stressful.
Stop covering the children in cotton wool.
They probably need more exercise anyway.
If you walk everywhere on the weekends and holidays, why on earth are they getting the bus?!
Everyone wants something for nothing.
Make them walk to school.
You ARE the first comment. Come on….
Here is a novel idea.
You pay your own child’s bus fare
You had the ‘fun’ after all !
Seriously! Unhelpful. Ignorant.
No one expected the cost of living to rise to such crazy levels. You might be “all right, Jack” but lots of families are struggling.
2 miles is a walkable distance.
Yes but the max requirement to access free bus fares for kids is 3 miles. Also honestly I wouldn’t want my kid walking up to 3 miles a day in dark mornings and school home times through Brighton! No thanks! If we lived in the Mediterranean then no problem…
Absolutely, the Education Act 1996 defines a reasonable walking distance for the age range stated in this article as 3 miles or less measured along the shortest route which a child could walk with reasonable safety. A petition might compel a debate, but the debate has a very clear legal answer to this, and therefore the council would have no compulsion to make any changes. Her petition would ultimately be pointless as her stipulation of “being within walking distance” is already achieved.
Excellent idea. Ironically kids pay half of an adult’s fare which is goes up in price the more stops you take – so it’s the kids who travel furthest and totally rely on the bus that pay more. I get the bus regularly and have seen kids with injuries and the like get on. I have quite a few friends who sat it’s cheaper to drive their kids to school than get the bus – this should stop parents having to use cars and jam up the roads at school times.
PS anyone who suggests younger age secondary school kids bike it substantial distances across Brighton at rush hour have obviously not seen the copious accidents. Ironically I had the misfortune to see a young teen cyclist hit by a bus before the summer holidays.
Jeez. We used to walk/bike a much greater distance to school come wind/rain or shine! It’s character building and healthy, God help us, these Parents are pathetic, mollycoddling their precious ones at everyone else’s expense.
Different days, different traffic, different stressors. And the so-called ‘good old days’ weren’t great for everyone, in any case.
It may have build your character, but is that really the sort of character that you would wish upon everyone else? “I had it tough, so should every one else”
Didn’t have it tough, just walked to school all my life, actually pit me in good stead, I now walk whenever I can and have no issues regarding weather. I am fit and healthy and pity all you fat arses who take your cars for couple of mile journeys and wonder why you pant when you walk up steps, lol.
How do I go about signing the petition. My daughter has to travel from Woodingdean to Varndean not walkable or cycleable, has to leave home at 7.15 to not be in all the traffic at rush hour, We are non- drivers (35 years)
Sarah, your child would be eligible for free travel anyway regardless since that journey is over three miles.
Here’s the petition:
https://www.change.org/p/make-school-bus-travel-for-kids-free-in-brighton
Also some really great comments by parents – way more useful that the angry keyboard warriors above!
https://www.change.org/p/make-school-bus-travel-for-kids-free-in-brighton/c
Yes, I am sure council taxpayers will be really enthusiastic about another rise to pay for this.
Wow, what a hateful bunch.
1. it is stated clearly in the petition that walking is technically possible, of course it is, but I’d love to see the commenters braving the Nov-Feb weather for 2 hours a day, aged 11. smaller kids also regularly get ambushed / bullied / robbed on the way to and from school by older kids so solo walking is not the safest way to travel.
2. the city is not safe for cycling – yes there’s cycle lanes down the seafront and some elsewhere but few and far between and the roads are simply unsafe. plus the weather often isn’t suitable either.
3. on the who pays – well, who pays for the over 65s? we are talking about kids who are FORCED to rely on public transport TO GET TO SCHOOL the council has ALLOCATED them. they simply HAVE TO get to school – this is not a choice for them, nor is it a choice for their parents many of whom will be struggling at 40 pounds a month (or more, if multiple children). subsidising makes so much sense here, it’s a no brainer really.
The over 65 and disabled ‘free’ bus passes are paid from via the parking fee surplus. At a cost of getting on for £15m a year.
B&H is lucky it has that income to pay for them. Other councils don’t and it has to come out of their general budget funded by council tax.
The over 65s paid into the system for decades so are worthy of concession, your Kids have not. If your that concerned about ‘safety’ here’s an original though, why don’t you walk them to school and bring them back? Daytime tv is not the compelling…
wow. just wow. some of us work and can’t take time to walk kids to school for 2 hrs each day. i am also paying into the system, and have been for 30+ years – yet struggle to afford the bus for my children to give them education they deserve. and it’s the kids who’ll be paying for all of us later on anyway. how incredibly short sighted.
Apparently it “built Paul’s character”. We can all see what sort of character that built.
Reasonable walking is also legally defined in the Education Act 1996, Sonia. If the route was able to be evidenced to be unsafe, then there might be a reason for debate. I am not aware of anything of the sort along the route mentioned in this article. However, in terms of distance, it is clearly reasonable. Seasonal weather is not a legal consideration, unfortunately.
You mentioned the city is not safe for cycling. I would respectfully argue, at least in this case, that the cycle route is very reasonable, being mainly flat, with large open roads, dedicated cycle lanes traffic-calming measures and school safety features throughout would suggest that the city considers development along these common routes to make cycling more safe with additional features.
Schools are allocating using preferences, and at Blatchington Mill, only four children were not able to be offered one of their preferential places, and none of the places offered were out of the catchment area. The idea that families are “forced” does not hold any merit, according to data.
I grew up at the top of Elm Grove and had to go to Stringer each day 2.5 miles
Very rarely ever took the bus
Now in my 40s, not obese and play regular sport – what a coincidence!
How amazing that you walked to school from the ages of 11 to 16 and miraculously stagnated in time, still the same weight decades later. You are a modern day scientific miracle and should be studied Malcolm!
I absolutely support this petition.
People making these demands never ask themselves the obvious question- who will pay for this? And, of course, it is the beleaguered taxpayer! Why should our taxes supplement such things as bus passes fircyoungsters who can walk or cycle in most cases. But, above all, getting them to school- or anywhere else, for that mattet- is the responsibility of the PARENTS!