Schools

See also

Other websites

Contacts and Maps

Maps and travel information
Maps and Travel | Contact
Home: Children and families: Parents and carers: School transport

School transport Mybus scheme

West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive - April 2009
mike.nolan@wypte.gov.uk

How the Mybus scheme works

Drivers

Mybuses are driven by the same driver each day. The drivers take part in a training programme that focuses on the customer, and they go through an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check to make sure that they are suitable for working with children. The children develop a positive relationship with the driver, which promotes good behaviour. The drivers get to know the children's routine and whether they have any special needs. In addition, parents build up trust with the driver.

Registers

Drivers have a register of all the children that are travelling on the bus. To get onto the register parents must fill in an application form. This process provides vital information about the child's travel patterns (which days, where from, where to, if they are being met from the bus) and contact details in case of emergency. If a child does not show up at their usual pick up point, the driver informs the Mybus Hotline who then contact the parents to find out where the child is.

The application procedure acts as a contract, where parents sign up to their role in the scheme and agree to certain terms and conditions. For example: informing the Mybus Hotline when appropriate, meeting their child from the bus in the afternoon, ensuring their child is at the bus stop on time, and making sure that their child understands the Mybus Code.

About the Mybus Hotline

  • Mybus Hotline: 0113 348 1122
Parents call the Mybus Hotline to relay messages to the driver. If their child is not using the bus on any of the days they are expected (e.g. through illness), parents call the Mybus Hotline to relay this to the driver. The driver then knows exactly who is travelling each day. If a child does not show up at their usual pick up point, the driver informs the Mybus Hotline, who then contact the parents to find out where the child is.

An exclusive service

The only people permitted to use the bus are children carrying Mybus bus passes and their accompanying adults.

Safety lessons

The Mybus Team visit schools during the summer term with the bus to help children learn how to travel safely. They practice boarding the bus and getting off safety, learn how to buy their ticket and find out how to keep safe during the journey. This is all included in the Mybus Code which is displayed inside the buses.

School gate safety

Each bus stops as close to the school gate as possible, or inside the school grounds. The driver supervises children as they get off the bus and makes sure that they are inside the school grounds before moving off.

In the cases where the bus cannot access the school gate a team of volunteers (classroom assistants, parents, caretakers) take it in turns to meet the children from the bus and supervise them on the short walk to the school grounds.
top

Benefits of the Mybus scheme
  • Less school gate congestion, less pollution and fewer accidents on local roads.
  • Reduced truancy and late arrivals.
  • Lower car mileage on the road network.
  • Improved safety for cyclists and pedestrians.
  • Better preparation for the start of pupils' school day.
  • Better behaviour when the pupils are travelling.
  • The children have positive experiences of using public transport.
  • Helps to tackle social exclusion.
  • Helps schools to meet targets for excellence in education.
  • Provides integration for children with special needs.
  • Complements initiatives to encourage walking and cycling to school.
  • The children can develop independence in a safe environment.
  • There are improvements in educational performance and attendance.
top

About the Mybus scheme
In April 2008 Metro introduced the 150th yellow bus of its pioneering Mybus project, which provides dedicated transport to schools throughout West Yorkshire.

The award winning scheme now serves over 10,000 pupils at 133 schools throughout the region. Fourteen Kirklees schools are enjoying the benefits the scheme offers such as reduced school gate congestion, improved behaviour on-board public transport and pupils arriving at school ready to learn.

Over 64% of users previously travelled to school by car, removing over two million km of car journeys from West Yorkshire's roads each year.

The scheme is the result of a successful bid to the Department for Transport (DfT) in December 2003. Metro was awarded £18.7m of funding to introduce Mybus services to West Yorkshire schools. The scheme is the largest single yellow bus scheme in the country and Metro believes it provides the model for the future of home-to-school transport throughout the UK.
top

A to Z of the website