Update on home to school transport
Introduction of new temporary bus passes by 13 September:
We will issue new temporary bus passes this week to all students who have been approved to access Council school transport (both free and paid-for) as well as those who use local bus services with their travel paid for by the Council.
These new temporary passes will be delivered to schools across the county by Thursday 12 September and will be available for students to collect from their school on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 September.
Any student that does not receive a pass from their school by Friday 13 September should provide the school with their name, address and date of birth. The school will contact the council’s transport team and if the student should have a pass, one will be sent to the school to distribute to the pupil.
In the event of a student being approved to use council school transport but not having received their bus pass, bus operators will allow flexibility until Wednesday 18 September to ensure that children are able to travel to school and collect their replacement pass early in week commencing 16 September.
From 16 September, all students should have received their new temporary pass and be using it when they travel.
Temporary bus pass usage will continue until December:
All students should continue to use their new temporary bus passes through the first half of the Autumn term and until their permanent bus pass is issued.
We will issue permanent passes between 4 November and end December to students to replace their temporary passes.
The new permanent passes will no longer have the route timetable attached, and parents and carers are recommended to check the timetable information on our website at https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/education/school-transport/find-a-school-bus-stop/
New school transport contracts due to begin from November:
We have included our newsletter leaflet in letters to parents of students receiving free and paid-for school transport since June this year to let you know of the plans to re-tender client transport contracts.
New school transport contracts are due to begin from 4 November 2019 as a result of our current re-tendering programme for all our client transport routes across the county. The re-tendering exercise is being carried out to improve our client transport services for school transport, SEN transport and client transport for adults. Read more information about this at our website.
As part of the re-tendering exercise all transport contracts are due to be renewed which means that the company currently providing home to school transport on any particular route may change from the second half of this Autumn term. Bus routes will also change from 4 November with different stops being served by different buses.
We will issue permanent bus passes through November and December which will align with the introduction of the new routes schedules.
Full up to date information on all routes and timetables will be published in advance of 4 November on our website