Harrogate parents have spoken of “chaos” and “shambles” on a school bus to Rossett School following changes to the service for the new term.
Students on the S3 bus have been subject to overcrowding and reportedly told to leave the bus for an alternative service.
North Yorkshire County Council, which contracts school buses to private bus companies, announced last week that Harrogate Bus Company‘s 780H, 781H, 782H, 783H, 784H services had been cancelled.
The old routes began in the Jennyfields, Bilton and Woodlands areas of Harrogate. Children were instead advised to take the 6, 52, S3, 8A, 620H and 620H services.
However, parents have told the Stray Ferret that since the changes the number S3 service through Jennyfields has been overcrowded and chaotic.
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Ann Lambert, a grandparent of a child who attends Rossett, described the service as chaotic and raised concern that children on free bus passes were affected.
She said:
“There was chaos this morning on the bus from Jennyfields.
“The bus was full and children were told to get off by the time they reached the Co-op, so all other stops were driven past.
“Children were told they can also get a service bus, which not only adds time, but does not account for the children who get a free bus pass provided by North Yorkshire County Council, which is for a specified service only.”
‘Shambles this morning’
Harrogate parent Chris Wingate:
“It was a shambles this morning on the Jennyfields to Rossett bus with mass overcrowding and students turned away after only about half the route complete.
“On the way home the bus was also overcrowded with many students concerned and getting off early as they felt too cramped and unsafe.:
In response to the concerns over the S3 service, Michael Leah, assistant director for travel and the environment at North Yorkshire County Council, said:
“Service S3 is one of a number of commercial local bus services run by The Harrogate Bus Company and we do not financially support it.
“However, we do buy passes from the company for pupils entitled to free home-to-school transport so they can use the service. The bus company also sell seats to non-entitled pupils where they are available.
“We are aware that the service had an issue with overloading yesterday and we are talking to the bus company about passenger numbers in an effort to resolve the issue quickly.
“We are not aware that any of our children entitled to free home-to-school passes on the S3 were refused travel today, but we are investigating.”
The Stray Ferret has approached Transdev, which owns the Harrogate Bus Company, for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Council apologises over short notice
Concerns about overcrowding come after parents in Harrogate raised concerns on social media about the lack of notice about the change in service.
Some parents described the changes as confusing and said they should have been announced sooner.
An email seen by the Stray Ferret from the council’s Passenger Transport Department said the authority had experienced delays in the renewal of the contract for the service due to covid and additional work in the procurement process.
It said this left little time to publicise the changes. However, the council added that it had told schools to expect changes to services in September.
The authority said:
“Obviously we apologise for the short notice of these changes and for any inconvenience that it has caused parents and pupils but we are confident that the new service network is efficient and that pupils will soon get used to the changes.”
Has your child been affected by the changes to the school bus service? Email us at [email protected]
