Angry parents claim that bus route changes have effectively left their children stranded at school at the end of the day.
The Hove Park Parents Group blog, written by parents of pupils at Hove Park School, says Brighton and Hove Buses put another bus on the 56 route in the mornings because of overcrowding – but didn’t put another one on in the afternoon, while at the same time scrapping the 27A back to the Seven Dials.
After protests, another bus will now be put on the 14 route, but this will not start until September – leaving the children to make their own way home.
The group claims neither the council nor the bus company will take responsibility for the pupils’ travel needs, each blaming the other. It says: “Eventually we get grudging or late changes after parents and their elected representatives make enough of a fuss.
“As for the council, it would be nice if they finally acknowledged the basic principle that since they drew up the catchment area, they should make sure that public transport is available to get children from one side of it to the other.”
However, a council spokeswoman strongly defended the council’s actions. She said: “There are currently buses from Hove Park to Seven Dials area after school although maybe not on the exact route that some parents want. For this reason we have worked with Brighton & Hove Buses to introduce a new service as early as possible bearing in mind the legal requirements applicable when altering bus services.
“It is disappointing to read these criticisms and it is not typical of the feedback that we have received from parents who have been grateful that we have worked hard to introduce these changes.”
Roger French, managing director of Brighton and Hove Buses, said: “The operation of school buses is not generally a commercial proposition and they need funding from the city council to ensure they work effectively. The situation is not helped by the changing catchment areas for schools.
“We have found a way of providing an afternoon journey on the 14 route for students travelling to the Dyke Road to Seven Dials area which can be extended to Hove Park School without any funding from September.”
He also gave some more background to the bus route changes: “The 56 route (which is funded by the city council) and also serves the lower end of Dyke Road and Seven Dials used to have a journey leaving from Knoll Estate at 3.24 pm which was ideal for Hove Park students who walked up to Martin Road to catch the bus.
“About 18 months ago there was an incident at the bus stop and the parents asked the city council for the bus to start from the school instead but it was later due to the extra distance.
“It now leaves from outside the school at 3.37 pm. Woodruff Avenue area students are now served by the 96 which had its route changed to provide a facility, so they now leave from outside the school instead of walking to the Grenadier. In the mornings the 56 arrives outside the school instead of terminating at Martin Road and there are two journeys instead of the previous one.”
Hi, thanks for picking this up. I’ve posted the following on our blog:
This quotes a Council spokeswoman as saying “There are currently buses from Hove Park to Seven Dials area after school …’ We’ve checked with the Council communications office, which has confirmed that she was referring to the 56. Not buses. One bus. As we said, they are currently providing two buses there and one back. It leaves more than half an hour after school finishes.
Roger French describes the old departure time of the 56, 3.24pm, as ‘ideal’. School ends at 3, and the bus stop is about 5-10 minutes’ walk away, on a side street. This meant that children were typically at the stop for 15 minutes or more, away from school supervisors or many members of the public. It was during one of these waits that one child was threatened by a boy with a knife. The wait in that unsupervised location created a risk to children’s safety, so it was hardly ideal.