A Hove mother has started a petition calling for free bus travel for secondary school pupils.
Tina Phillips was shocked to find that her son’s two-mile bus journey from their home near St Ann’s Well Gardens, Hove, to Blatchington Mill School, in Nevill Avenue, cost £40 a month.
Since setting up the petition last Wednesday (6 September), more than 400 people have signed it.
Brighton and Hove City Council will only fund free travel for those more than three miles away from the “appropriate school” such as students travelling from Whitehawk to Longhill, in Rottingdean.
In her petition on the Change.org website, headed Make School Bus Travel for Kids Free in Brighton, she said that not every child was allocated the closest secondary school to their home.
The petition said:
“The school locations make it hard for kids to walk. In a lot of cases the walk takes up to an hour, sometimes more. The cycle lanes on roads leading to the schools are almost non-existent and the city is hilly.
“The British weather often leaves children with no choice but to cram on the bus for which they are forced to pay.”
She said that, in contrast, bus travel was free for all under 16s in London.
As a compromise, she suggested limiting free travel for under 16s to weekdays during term time from 7am to 9am and from 2.30pm to 4pm.
She said that one of the biggest frustrations since her son started year 7 was that there had been days when the 5B bus was too full to take all the children from their stop in central Hove.
She said:
“I don’t want to pay for an annual or monthly ticket if he can’t get on the bus.
“I know the cheapest is an annual which is £410. Then there are half-term holidays. We don’t take buses at the weekends. We walk everywhere.
“If he can’t get on the bus and I’ve paid £400, then that would make me more cross.
“Travel to school should be subsidised or free – or schools should be a walkable distance.”
If more than 1,250 people sign the petition, it will qualify for debate at a meeting of the full council scheduled for Thursday 19 October.
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