Stepping up fight for better school transport
The Campaign to Improve Home-School Transport in Bath and North East Somerset has urged people to show the council more action is needed to tackle overcrowded bus services.
For the past 11 months B&NES Council has been carrying out an authority-wide review into the state of secondary school transport, which included a public consultation exercise.
People were invited to fill in an online questionnaire to explain what the current problems were and how the situation could be improved.
To mark the end of the consultation, the council is holding a public meeting next week, at which people can give their opinions and take part in question-and-answer discussions.
One of the campaign founders, Susie Wright, said: "It affects far more than those with children in secondary schools.
"It is about pollution and congestion, and anyone who believes the school run has had a large impact on these issues should come along.
"Anybody and everybody is welcome at the meeting, they don't have to speak, we would just be thrilled to see them."
The campaign started more than a year ago when parents came together to protest against the issues of overcrowding, high pricing and unreliability of buses which serve schools.
Since then some improvements have been made, such as the introduction of First's Child Weekly travelcard, but campaigners still want to see more.
In an email to supporters, Ms Wright said it was the council's responsibility to provide adequate school transport under the Government's Every Child Matters initiative.
She added: "Our campaign is keen to ensure that the council is left in no doubt that we, the people who elected them, are asking them to invest as a matter of priority in adequate, affordable transport for our young people, to ensure that every child does matter here in B&NES."
People are invited to the meeting of the children and young people overview and scrutiny panel on Monday, December 8, at 5.30pm in the Banqueting Room in the Guildhall.
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