Metro's West Yorkshire school bus network, Mybus, could provide much of the UK with a model for primary, secondary and special educational needs school travel.

This is the conclusion of a report to West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority's members that marks the end of the project's four-year development stage.

Metro has implemented the scheme through a four-year, £18.7m Department of Transport funding (DfT) award secured on the basis of successful scheme pilots.

High quality home-to-school transport

Mybus now provides high-quality home-to-school transport on purpose-built yellow buses for over 9,000 pupils at 78 of the county's primary schools, 52 of its secondary schools and two Special Educational Needs schools.

Metro's report, which marks the end of the DfT development funding sets out Mybus's substantial achievements, explains how its benefits can be extended in West Yorkshire, and how similar schemes could be rolled out in other parts of the UK.

Marking a shift from car to bus

Mode shift from car to bus, it says , has been dramatic with 64% of the scheme's primary school users and 15% of its secondary school users having formally travelled to school by car. This represents two million car kilometres removed from the county's road network each year and an environmental saving of over 300 tonnes of carbon.

"This report shows that Mybus has been a major success and has had a significant impact both on traffic levels in West Yorkshire, and the lives of the pupils parents and teachers involved with the scheme," said Metro Chairman Councillor Chris Greaves.

"It also makes clear that Mybus has been successful because it is a comprehensive scheme developed in partnership with schools, education authorities and bus operators, which has involved establishing its own dedicated call centre and clear consultation with parents and pupils.

"Dedicated drivers, CCTV on the buses, seatbelts for all pupils and fun elements such as CD players on the buses have all contributed to the scheme's success," he continued. "It is certainly about a lot more than simply painting buses yellow or introducing converted vehicles from the US.

"Mybus has also had a positive impact on the bus industry attracting new drivers and enabling operators to retain drivers who would otherwise be considering retirement," continued Councillor Greaves.

"And the reduced numbers of cars taking part in the school run is providing the environmental benefit of cleaner air and improved road safety at school gates."

Working with National Yellow Bus Commission

Metro's report comes at a time when the National Yellow Bus Commission, whose members including chair David Blunkett visited the Mybus scheme in January 2008, is due to report on its findings.

"We have worked closely with the Commission and illustrated to them that when correctly planned to provide a local home-to-school network, the Mybus model can provide a broad range of benefits at primary, special educational needs and secondary schools," added Councillor Greaves.

"As the Report states, having reached the end of Mybus's four-year development phase, Metro is now looking at how it takes the scheme forward," he continued.

"We have already started maximising the use of some Mybus vehicles by employing them for journeys during the school day such as swimming lesons and field trips and for MetroLocal services which provide a hail-and-ride bus links for local communities.

"We are also looking at how we can introduce some of the features of Mybus into other, regular home-to-school transport services.

Download the Report's Executive Summary (pdf, 63k) or Mybus Case Studies (pdf 108k).