Does your school run it's own bus or minibus to pick students up and take them home?

[tj2419]

Random question but EduGeek has always served me well.

 

Does anyone on here know if there school funds their own minibus or school bus themselves on top of usual school buses funded by LEA?

 

We are looking at it as a potential way of boosting numbers but are interested to see how other schools have funded it and run the service.

 

If you know anyone at your school you could put me in touch with that would be amazing. Cheers

[Sonic007]

We have a lease agreement on a minibus.

[hardtailstar]

We dont have a minibus service but our council pays taxis to collect and drop off some students, might be worth checking if yours does too.

 

We dont have buses as we are in the middle of a town so most students walk/cycle.

[Cache]

We have a contract which we procured through the LA for additional transport, previously we did it through another organisation.

 

The transport is paid for by us and then recharged to parents.

[witch]

We have a minibus funded by the parent teacher assoc and we rent it out to other organisations. We dont use it for children to and from school though.

[dhicks]

Does anyone on here know if there school funds their own minibus or school bus themselves on top of usual school buses funded by LEA?

 

We run a minibus that brings some children from a set route in to school - one of the caretakers drives the bus and parks it at his house overnight, and there's a second member of staff he picks up on his way in to act as a helper. We're a private school, we simply charge parents extra for the service - I imagine a similar setup would be possible in a state school.

[PotNoodleTech]

We have an older 2009 transit minibus which I believe we bought outright, then have a maintenance agreement with the LEA to keep her purring away.

 

Don't know what we'd do without it when people say their school does not have a minibus I am like how do you function?!!

 

I am a big fan of not buying new stuff, or maintenance contracts, if it was up to me (which is isn't) I'd pick up a pair of 6 year old Mercedes Sprinters and maintain them in house. Probably need about £250 a year in service parts.

[Andrew_C]

if it was up to me (which is isn't) I'd pick up a pair of 6 year old Mercedes Sprinters and maintain them in house. Probably need about £250 a year in service parts.

Nice idea, but... Operators Licence - Liability - Insurance.

Not saying the idea is completely unviable, but not as easy as it might seem.

Mrs C's school have a large fleet of buses collecting from a 25+ mile radius. Again, a private school, but part of an Acadamy chain.

[Hokalus]

We hire a bus from a local company to provide transport for students. We just charge standard student bus fare payable either on bus or weekly pass via Parent Pay.

[PotNoodleTech]

Nice idea, but... Operators Licence - Liability - Insurance..

 

Yes all those scary words that the LEA throw at us to try and keep us using their overpriced SLA's

 

If we can run a 3 square mile multimillion pound site with a thousand people a day coming and going I recon we can cope with 2 minibus's.

[Andrew_C]

This is what happens* if you try to run buses without really knowing what you are doing, or try to cut corners.

 

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/16975874.leading-southampton-coach-company-airlynx-express-banned-over-serious-safety-breaches/

 

* if you are lucky; at least no one died.

[MatthewL]

Note that not everyone can driving a mini bus with their license and you could need a PSV operator license too. Also worth noting different rules apply based on seat numbers too.

[RLR]

We have a few minibuses that pick up and drop off from the park and ride areas on the outskirts of the city.

[Ketlane]

It's complicated but not impossible. Driving licence rules very complex too, but again not insurmountable. Well worth getting all drivers MIDAS trained and qualified.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-19-and-22-permits-not-for-profit-passenger-transport/section-19-and-22-permits-not-for-profit-passenger-transport

https://www.gov.uk/driving-a-minibus

https://ctauk.org/training/midas/