Students face travel costs of hundreds of pounds to get to college
College students in rural areas are relying on lifts from parents and friends to get to lessons due to the cost of bus services, councillors have been told.
Shropshire Council will now look at measures to help students who live away from bus and train routes in the county, some of whom are facing a £1,500 bill for their travel passes – but councillors warned there would be ‘no blank cheque’ for support.
At a meeting of Shropshire Council on Thursday, Liberal Democrat councillor Mark Williams called on the council to look at the problem, and says families in his Highley ward have been badly affected by the closure of sixth form provision in Bridgnorth, meaning students now have to travel to Telford, Shrewsbury and Stourbridge to study for A-Levels.
“If you live within reach of a single bus service like Arriva which covers most of the county you will pay no more than £715 for your annual bus pass – if like us you have to use multiple bus passes, you have to pay far more,” he said.
“Using my ward as an example, almost every student will have to purchase an annual Diamond bus pass, costing £800 to get to Bridgnorth, and then either a college specific pass at around £600 or an Arriva annual bus pass at around £715 to get to their college.”
Labour group leader Julia Buckley said bus provision in a county was a “free for all” and called on the council to look at best practice elsewhere in the West Midlands, where local authorities had worked together to provide cross-company ticket solutions.
“The problem of catching multiple buses comes from the fact that this government privatised all bus services in this country. It’s a free for all and private companies can cherry pick profitable routes and charge what they like,” she said.
“It’s private companies that are now squeezing profit out of children trying to get to school.
“There’s absolutely nothing a local council can do about that.”
Shropshire Council will now form a ‘task and finish group’ to investigate the issue, which will look at measures such as ‘swift’ tickets which could apply across multiple routes. Other suggestions included colleges granting bursaries to students in rural areas, or running their own subsidised transport.
Council finance portfolio holder Gwilym Butler warned that any measures needed to be costed before they could be adopted.
“We need to look at best practice across the county,” he said.
“We have savings of £49m to find next year. As much as I’d like to write you a blank cheque, any recommendations you come up with must be funded or working in partnership with the colleges on how we actually deliver that.”
