Highland Council pilot bus scheme for Black Isle welcomed by parents fed up of unreliable service
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Families on the Black Isle have welcomed news that Highland Council is running a pilot scheme in a bid to develop its own bus service amid growing discontent over reliability.
The local authority has acquired six buses with a further six set to come amid hopes that if successful the trial could end the woes of families across the area.
A project team has been reviewing travel options and following the recent re-tender process for school transport contracts, the decision was made for the council to trial delivering more in-house school transport routes.
That pilot is set to begin in January and will initially cover routes on the Black Isle, rural Inverness-shire, Loch Ness-side and Nairn.
That has come as some relief to parents and children concerned about travel to and from school, as well as work. Matt Hall called the move a “no-brainer” citing issues over safety, lateness and the fact the school service is a public bus.
“The main issue with the bus is that it is frequently late two to three times a week both in the morning and the evening,” he said.
“This results in our children arriving late to school or having to wait to get home, sometimes over an hour. The second issue is that it regularly breaks downs two to three times a month. On one particular occasion last summer the engine caught on fire and the kids had to all evacuate by Learnie. Stagecoach clearly sends their worst quality buses on this route.
“The third issue is that it is a public bus. As a former head of child protection based in England I would suggest this is a huge child protection issue. Are Highland Council really happy saying that they provide transport to and from school and then leave the children to travel with members of the public? It’ll take just one bad child protection incident and they will resolve this – but we absolutely should not wait for that to happen.”
He added: “A council run service would address most of these issues. It would put ownership back in the hands of the council, the buses would be new, I would hope, and it would mean the service is private. It is a complete no-brainer.”
Ingrid Rochford agreed: “We have several concerns regarding the bus service for pupils travelling from Cromarty to Fortrose Academy. Firstly the service is frequently late, either getting the children to school or home again afterwards. Obviously this has a detrimental effect on their education and is disruptive to their first class of the day. Also, they are frequently late getting to after-school activities. We feel this is unfair to Cromarty children.
“Secondly, the service frequently breaks down, I don’t believe this is such a common occurrence with the services provided to other communities by DE coaches. This also raises serious concerns about the children’s safety, where they have to move to replacement services on a 60mph road, or evacuate the bus in an emergency.”
She said: “We feel our children are being discriminated against either by the contractor or Highland Council and it is a matter of time before one of these issues leads to more serious consequences.”
Black Isle councillor Sarah Atkin said: “Councillors on the Black Isle have received numerous complaints from parents about the school bus service from Cromarty. Late arrival of pupils impacts the school on multiple fronts. It is incredibly disruptive. I worry for pupils with anxiety or additional needs for whom certainty in the school day is essential. Parents getting together and saying ‘enough is enough’ is quite understandable.
“We will, of course, see about convening a meeting with them as a group very soon and taking this back to Stagecoach.”
