Home to school transport – questions and answers (August/September 2021)
Q. Can my child get to school by bus?
Dedicated school buses are available to help children and young people to get to school or college across South Yorkshire. School and college bus details are available at travelsouthyorkshire.com/school-buses
Q. Where can I find out which buses are running to my child’s school?
Q. What do I need to think about to help my child to travel safely?
Dedicated school buses are available to help children and young people get to schools and colleges across South Yorkshire. Information about school buses, including timetables, passes, and how pupils can help everyone to travel safely, is available at travelsouthyorkshire.com/school-buses
With a Zoom Under 16 or Zoom Travel Pass, young people can pay a concessionary 80p fare per single journey by cash or contactless. Please try to have the exact change where possible if you’re paying by cash. These passes also entitle young people to pre-purchase value for money tickets, such as a GetAbout ticket, which may be better value for money if they need to travel regularly. No pass means full fare.
A small number of dedicated school services don’t have the technology to scan passes for cashless payment. You can check at www.sytravelmaster.com/getabout-exclusions whether your school bus accepts GetAbout tickets.
Q. What safety measures are in place onboard school buses?
We’re asking parents and schools to help us to educate children and young people about using school buses safely.
We’re strongly encouraging everyone to continue to wear a face covering on public transport unless they’re exempt, as well as encouraging people to regularly wash or sanitise their hands, and keep a safe distance on public transport and school buses, wherever possible. Face coverings are mandatory in South Yorkshire Interchanges.
You can read Government guidance about school operations and transport at www.gov.uk
Q. My child has a health condition that means they can’t travel on a school bus. What
can you do to help?
If you have concerns about the suitability of home to school transport for medical reasons, you can contact your local authority education transport team.
Q. Can SYMCA provide taxis to get my child to school?
SYMCA provides additional school bus services where local buses don’t meet council education requirements. Additional provision for individual pupils, over and above this, can’t be made available. If you have concerns about the suitability of home to school transport, you can contact your council’s education transport team.
Q. My child’s home to school transport options are not suitable.
We have encouraged schools, colleges, families and pupils to let us know if they have any issues, so we can shape future improvements. We will listen to concerns and, where possible, adjust services to make sure school transport meets the needs of our customers.
Q. Why aren’t additional dedicated school services still in place?
The Department for Education provided funding for additional home to school transport for the last academic year, to create extra capacity on the public transport network while Covid-19 travel guidance was in place. Most temporary dedicated school bus services that were introduced from September 2020 won’t continue.
Dedicated school buses that ran before the pandemic will mostly resume to help children and young people to get to school or college across South Yorkshire.
Q: Do I need to replace my child’s MegaTravel / 16-18 Travel Pass with a Zoom
Travel Pass?
If your child currently has a valid MegaTravel or 16-18 Travel Pass which hasn’t expired, they can continue to use it. It will remain valid until its expiry date.
