I am really looking forward to schools being fully open again in September, but I do have one major concern: school transport.
Coronavirus: School transport difficulties in September
Here’s why:
1. Staggered starts won’t work for many
The guidance recommends staggered start and finish times to maintain “bubble groups” if possible and to avoid rush-hour travel. While a seemingly sensible idea, this suggestion seems to neglect the fact that there are siblings in different year groups and also the length of journey some students have. With many journeys being an hour (or over) each way, when factoring in journey time (with reduced services) and homework, it leads to a sub-ideal situation, putting it mildly.
2. Schools share transport
There is specific guidance around dedicated school transport. It is suggested that this should reflect bubbles within schools. My own school shares such transport with four other schools. If all these schools are operating staggered start times for their different bubbles, it is highly unlikely that the dedicated transport will be financially viable.
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This was already an issue during partial opening. Students who relied on such transport and were unable to make alternative arrangements were unable to attend.
The guidance suggests that additional services may be required - the right capacity and availability is unlikely to be in place for this by September.
3. Peak times on public transport make things complicated
The guidance around public transport is that students should not be travelling on such transportation during rush hour. Many of our students start their journey on the train. The peak times pretty much run from 5am to 9am and 3pm to 6.30pm. Staggering times to match with this would result in a strange and difficult-to-manage timetable, to say the very least.
4. Many students live too far away to walk or cycle
A high point of the guidance was the suggestion of there being funding to improve the take-up of walking and cycling to school. This is a noble suggestion and one that should have been in place years ago. There is an issue, however.
Schools have large catchment areas and, with the option for parents to show a preference for which school their children attend, many students have journeys to school that make walking or cycling unviable due to either distance or safety.
5. There simply isn’t enough time to prepare
And finally, that London 2012 comparison. To enable the public transport system to meet the demands upon it, a major project of repairs was begun and years of planning went into the arrangements. We found out we were hosting the Olympics in 2005 and some of the transportation planning had already begun.
Schools, local authorities and transport companies have a few short weeks to get all of this in place.
Heidi Drake teaches at Colchester Royal Grammar School in Essex
