Kids follow yellow bus road to success

By James Edgar, Yorkshire Evening Post

CHATTERBOX children in West Yorkshire are ready to learn when they arrive at school – after a daily babble on board a yellow bus.

Teachers say the 8,000 pupils that use Metro’s “My bus” scheme are “talked out” by the time they get to lessons.

Other advantages are that the schoolchildren enjoy travelling with their friends, and parents are spared from doing the school run.

Parents are freeing up nearly an hour a week on average and save 30 kilometres a week.

Martin Driver, a spokesperson for Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Travel Executive, said: “Teachers are telling us the scheme has improved the punctuality and attendance of the pupils.

“There is training for all kids before they use the service and they gain additional self-confidence by using the bus.”

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett launched the 150th yellow bus when he visited a school in Leeds yesterday.

St Theresa’s Primary is one of over 130 schools signed up to West Yorkshire’s yellow bus scheme, the largest in the UK.

The Labour MP for Sheffield Brightside met parents and students who regularly use the service.

Already the yellow buses have eased congestion in West Yorkshire.

Almost 70 per cent of primary school pupils and 20 per cent of secondary pupils that use the service were previously dropped off by car.

The single-deck buses, which have on-board CCTV and belts on every seat, follow a specially devised route to pick up students along the way.

Some buses are equipped for children with special educational needs.

Trained operators run a back-up system that parents and drivers can contact in the event of any problems.

Mr Driver said: “The scheme has been implemented carefully and methodically with input from both parents and schools.

“The buses take children from as young as four to those taking GCSEs.”

Mr Blunkett is chairman of the national Yellow School Bus Commission, set up by bus operator First, which looks at the possibilities of introducing more yellow school buses across the country.

“My bus” started taking children to and from school in autumn 2004 after Metro won £18.7 million in funding from the Department for Transport.

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