Responding to a call from the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), on Monday 13 August, for schools to become ‘car free’, Metro Chairman Councillor Ryk Downes said Metro’s My bus yellow school buses and its SAFEMark schemes are helping to achieve this aim.

“Metro carries out workshops with thousands of Year Six pupils every year, through its Junior SAFEMark scheme, at which they are encouraged to think about alternative ways of getting to school including walking and cycling.

“Once we get them thinking about the alternatives to coming to school in the  car, and the environmental impact their journeys are having, many of the pupils we see are dead keen to walk or cycle to school.

While encouraging walking and cycling to school Metro also recognises that many pupils have to make longer journeys where this is not possible, which is why it introduced its My bus yellow bus scheme, Councillor Downes explained.

“Coordinating schools transport for 90,000 pupils across the county, Metro was only too aware of the effect of the school run at peak times on local roads,” he said.

“It was with the aim of reducing the number of school run cars on the roads that we drew up the My bus yellow bus scheme, which is the largest in the country, transporting over 8,000 pupils to and from school every day.

“Our research has shown that over 60% of primary school pupils travelling on My bus were formerly brought to school by car so the scheme has been a massive success.

“We believe that its record of reducing peak-time traffic and improving school-gate safety makes My bus is a model for West Yorkshire and the rest of the UK, and we are currently looking at how we can introduce elements of the scheme to school transport throughout the county.

“I hope the report from the IEEP will focus more attention and generate the ‘concerted action’ that is called for on how we make these healthier and cleaner alternatives easy, fun and safe.”

In June and July Metro ran Junior SAFEMark training sessions for over 1,800 Year Six pupils from 56 West Yorkshire schools.

Junior SAFEMark training is for Year Six pupils who are likely to be using public transport on their own for the first time will be starting secondary school in September. Almost 8,000 Year Six pupils have benefited from Junior SAFEMark workshops since Metro introduced them to West Yorkshire in 2004.

In the workshops the pupils learn to: 

• plan journeys using Metro’s online journey planner, bus timetables and the yournextbus texting service;
• carry out on-bus role plays to get them thinking about travelling safely and confidently;
• talking about Green Transport choices, including walking.

One hundred and thirty-three My bus vehicles are in use in West Yorkshire.

Research has shown that the number of car journeys converted into My bus journeys has been as high as 91% in some parts of West Yorkshire. Across primary schools an average of 68% of My bus pupils formerly travelled to school in a car. Without the daily school run, those pupils’ parents are, on average, saving 54 minutes and driving 30km less every week.

Where My bus has been introduced at schools for pupils with Special Education Needs, headteachers have told us it has had the added benefit of giving pupils who formerly travelled to school by taxi, extra confidence and independence.