Edinburgh council urged to halt 'ludicrous' plan to remove school transport from nearly 200 pupils
‘There are fundamental flaws in the council’s proposal’ - Cllr Kevin Lang
Liberal Democrat councillors are calling for a halt to plans to remove dedicated school transport for almost 200 pupils from Kirkliston who attend Queensferry High School.
Kirkliston falls within the catchment area for Queensferry High, and for many years Edinburgh council has provided coaches to take the pupils between the village and the school, which is around 2.7 miles away.
But on May 29, the council informed the Kirkliston parent council that, following a review, around 40 per cent of pupils currently using the coaches would no longer have access to the service. The council has suggested these pupils should instead use Lothian Buses No 71 service, which operates between Kirkliston and South Queensferry.
However, Lib Dem councillor Kevin Lang said the proposed change would not work. He said under the current timetable, pupils using the No 71 bus would arrive at school either at around 7.35am – 45 minutes before it opens – or at 8.40am, after the start of the school day.
And he said that a total of 199 pupils were expected to be affected by the changes, but a Lothian double-decker bus had a maximum capacity of 131 passengers.
Lib Dem councillors have now submitted an emergency motion to Tuesday’s education committee, calling for the proposed changes to be paused while further discussions take place with parents and local stakeholders.
Cllr Lang, whose ward includes Kirkliston, said: “This news has come as a massive shock to families in Kirkliston. For years, the council has provided dedicated school transport between the village and Queensferry High School. Parents are understandably angry and concerned to learn that, from the start of the new school year, around 40 per cent of pupils could lose access to that service.”
He said the council spent a lot of money on school transport and since young people were now entitled to free travel on buses, it was a “perfectly sound principle” to see where there might be existing bus services pupils could use.
But he said the review, which he understood had been carried out by external consultants, appeared to have considered which pupils would still need dedicated transport because they could not easily and safely get to a bus stop, but had failed to look at bus timetables or capacity.
He said: “There are fundamental flaws in the council’s proposal. The timetable for the Service 71 simply does not work for school pupils. Children would either arrive almost an hour before the school opens or after lessons have already begun.
“There are also serious questions about capacity. The number of pupils affected significantly exceeds the capacity of a single double-decker bus.
“This is a ludicrous proposal that has clearly not been properly thought through. The council must halt these plans immediately and work with parents to find a practical solution.”
- Education convener James Dalgleish said changes to school transport would be paused so issues could be looked at.
He said: “I can completely understand the concern around proposed changes to school travel. I am also apprehensive about the impact of the potential changes to schools transport as they stand.
“That is why we will pause any changes for now so that a way forward can be agreed by committee members in consultation with the effected communities, and so that the implications of any changes can be fully considered.”