A school bus serving young people in Chipping Sodbury, Yate and nearby villages has been saved from cancellation following the intervention of Conservative-run South Gloucestershire Council.
Service operators Taylors had confirmed to the Council during the summer that owing to increasing costs, the S8 service from Old Sodbury to Katherne Lady Berkeley School (KLB) in Wotton-Under-Edge would be cancelled at the end of September.
Having learned of the plans to scrap the the service, which stops in Wickwar, Chipping Sodbury, Yate, Iron Acton, Rangeworthy and Cromhall and is used by dozens of pupils attending the secondary school, the Council worked to negotiate with the provider to increase numbers between Cromhall and KLB to help solve capacity issues with other supported routes that were oversubscribed.
This is the most recent intervention by South Gloucestershire Council to keep school services running, having been forced to step in back in July after the West of England Combined Authority’s Labour Mayor failed to save a series of buses bringing children to Winterbourne Academy. This would have impacted children attending the school from neighbouring communities including Frenchay, Downend, Lyde Green, Emersons Green, Bromley Heath, Frampton Cotterell, Coalpit Heath, Bradley Stoke, Stoke Gifford and Patchway.
Cllr Steve Reade, South Gloucestershire Cabinet Member with responsibility for Transport, said: “I am delighted that the Council has been able to find a solution that helps keep the S8 service running, removing a potentially difficult obstacle to getting local children to school. Without this bus, parents would no doubt have to resort to less sustainable transport options for the school run, wasting their time and money during an already difficult situation.
Thornbury and Yate MP Luke Hall added: “Making sure local buses continue to serve our communities, is a key part of our Positive Plan to keep South Gloucestershire moving and I am pleased to see South Gloucestershire Council again demonstrating their ability to act and prevent this service from being cut and disrupting the education of local children.”
