School Bus Transportation News at STN Media

Dedicated School Bus Service Could Save UK Parents £92 Million a Year in Fuel Costs

David Blunkett, former UK education secretary and current member of parliament, chaired the six-member Yellow School Bus Commission.

LONDON (updated Sept. 17, 2008) — A new report released today says yellow school buses would improve Great Britain’s economy and environment amid a doubling over the past 20 years of the number of students who are driven to school.

The Yellow School Bus Commission, formed last November by FirstGroup plc following a survey conducted by parenting Web site raisingkids.co.uk of 1,500 parents that showed 86 percent would be willing to send their children to school on the yellow school bus, found that 41 percent of primary-age students and 21 percent of secondary students are driven to school by car.

The figures are, respectively, four times and three times greater than that of their parents’ generation. Weekday morning and afternoon school runs by parents contribute approximately 1 million additional vehicles on the country’s roads and highways and another 1.2 million vehicles during the same periods that are driving extra distances to drop children off at school. At the peak time of 8:50 a.m., for example, school runs account for about 20 percent of all urban car trips. Drive times on some major roads can increase by more than 150 percent.

While noting that safe walking and bicycling programs should continue for students living within one mile of primary school and two miles of secondary schools, the council recommended that dedicated school bus runs should be available for all others, especially in areas with limited regular public bus service. School buses, the study concluded, could remove up to 180 million unnecessary trips and could cut carbon emissions by more than 55,000 tons each year. The vehicles were also recommended to include three-point seat belts and closed-circuit TV cameras.

“This is a forward-looking, realistic and highly relevant contribution to the debate not simply about transport, but about energy use, climate change and the sensible use and conservation of resources,” said David Blunkett, the country’s former education minister and chair of the six-member council. Interestingly, Blunkett, a current member of parliament and the UK's former education secretary, has never seen a yellow school bus as he has been blind since birth.

The cost of implementing dedicated yellow buses would be £154 million each year for primary schools and between £50 million and £100 million for secondary schools. The commission recommended that schools receive incentives of up to £10,000 a year to stagger bell times and that parents pay between £1 and £2 each school day to offset operating costs. But, it pointed out, parents could expect to save a total of £92 million in fuel and other vehicle operating costs. Meanwhile, the UK economy could see an total savings £342 million each year when also factoring in reduced student truancy rates, new jobs created in the bus industry and reduced traffic congestion.

The Yellow Bus Commission toured 30 British cities and towns with a specially-designed school bus over the past year to obtain feedback from parents, teachers and students on the potential benefits of a dedicated national school transport mode. It also researched North American school bus operations and current pilot programs for some 6,600 students in Britain.

Editor’s note - As of Sept. 12, 2008, the currency exchange rate was $1 US to £1.73 UK.