South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2005 | November | 18
From the archive, first published Friday 18th Nov 2005.
A SAFETY-CONSCIOUS bus company has been told to stop making a detour to pick up Thornbury youngsters who otherwise have to cross a busy road and walk Marlwood School in Alveston.
Bus operators introduced the route change from Thornbury to spare pupils a trek to and from the nearest bus stop at the other end of the village.
But council transport chiefs who subsidise the 312 service ruled that the alteration was not approved and ordered bus operators South Gloucestershire Bus and Coach Company to revert to the agreed route.
Since half term, children have had to use the stop at the Ship Inn in the village, cross a busy road and walk to school, returning to the same stop in the dark late afternoons.
Bosses at the firm said they had taken calls from several angry parents. "It is a shame but after the council tackled us about it we had no choice but to discontinue the diversion," said spokesman Nathan Wrenn.
"We started diverting to the school by popular request back in the spring after another company pulled out. Everything was fine until South Gloucestershire Council brought in changes to the route and timetable and told us we should not be going off route.
"We accept we should have got authorisation from the council but we were doing it for around 15 to 20 children and we were only going off line for about two minutes.
"We were thinking more of the safety aspects. Getting off at the Ship means a longish walk in all weathers."
He said children were handed an informative leaflet warning of the changes but he was not surprised if - as some parents have claimed- the message failed to get through.
Alan Stansfield, a Thornbury parent with daughters at Marlwood, said he was disappointed that the council had not tried harder to save the service.
"The council expressed concern that a school service had stopped but said there was nothing they could do," he said. "I think they could put some effort into facilitating a useful and reasonably well-used service.
"The overall effect, apart from stranding the children at school on the first day, is that the children now get home at least half an hour later after walking from the Ship - or more parents drive to the school to provide transport."
South Gloucestershire Council spokesman Sarah Hudspith said: "Following investigations about the unreliability of this service it came to light that the operator was diverting journeys via Marlwood School in the morning and afternoon.
"Unfortunately this deviation from the route was adding five to 10 minutes to the timetable and had a knock-on effect on the punctuality of subsequent journeys.
"South Gloucestershire Council has no obligation to transport school children from Thornbury to Marlwood School and the operator declined the option of running a separate service between these two locations without a subsidy from the council."
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