Plans by Derby City Council to ask parents to pre-pay their children’s school bus fares have backfired on a number of school routes, leaving some buses almost empty but still having to run to provide a service.

The council looked at ways to reduce its annual school transport budget of £728,000, and decided on a pre-payment system instead of pay-as-you-go.

This way, it reasoned, it would know in advance the numbers of children wanting to travel by bus, and would be better placed to plan ahead.

During a consultation process, more than 50% of parents said they would not pay lump sums and would find alternative ways to get their children to school.

Despite this warning, the council went ahead with its pre-payment plan. As a result, school buses have been running almost empty while children catch normal service buses or are taken to school by parents, leading to congestion problems on the school run.
 
A council spokeswoman told LocalGov sister title, Surveyor: ‘We will review the situation at half-term. Should it become necessary to withdraw any services that are no longer viable, children who are entitled to free transport will be provided with taxis instead.’