Recent years have seen increasing concern about the rising proportion of pupils transported to school by car and the associated traffic congestion, environmental and social/health problems. As a result, there has been growing interest in the use of American style yellow bus schemes in the UK in recent years. Initially, several local education authorities including West Sussex, Staffordshire and Cheshire introduced American style school buses to provide a cost effective alternative to existing school transport contracts. More recently, other local authorities/local education authorities/PTEs adopted an initiative from First, introducing a package of measures with an American school bus to improve the image and quality, of school transport, or to encourage a transfer from car to bus.
The service attributes of the yellow bus schemes liked by most parents and students were:
„* A pick up close to home and drop off close to school - this was the most highly ranked attribute of the schemes by parents and students in the survey responses, but for differing reasons - for students this seemed to be motivated by convenience, and for parents by personal and road safety
concerns
* The fact the yellow school buses are not available to the general-public was liked for security reasons by parents, but for secondary age students was seen as beneficial by reducing the friction between school users and other bus users
* A driver regularly allocated to the specific route, with additional training who could get to know the pupils, schools and parents was a key factor for the schools and for primary pupils' parents
* A guaranteed seat for each child was seen as a key attribute, as was the fact that standees were no longer permitted on these school routes. (However, there was mixed response to pupils being allocated a specific seat - this was preferred if seating allocations were agreed by students themselves, rather than allocated by the school)
* CCTV equipped vehicles were welcomed by operators (to reduce malicious allegations as well as vandalism), by schools and pupils to maintain discipline and reduce bullying.
Overall, the colour of the vehicles was not a highly ranked attribute of the scheme by parents or students in the surveys in Hebden Bridge, Runnymede and Wrexham. Consultation in these areas, as well as Harrogate, Norfolk, and Ilkley, revealed a more complex view, with secondary aged students
least keen on the colour - it made the vehicles 'stand out'. However, residents viewed the overall package, including the colour, as being important in attracting users. Older students conceded that the yellow vehicles were smart - and the embarrassment factor seemed to affect mainly those under 16 years in secondary schools.
Overall, students disliked the internal layout of the Blue Bird vehicles (but also the layout of the vehicles used in Norfolk), requesting more seat space and adequate luggage room - reflecting in part the quantity of equipment/books etc that students are carrying. The vehicles used in all the schemes except Ilkley have been introduced with high seating capacity to enable a service to be provided that does not necessitate any pupils standing or the use of double deck vehicles. (As a result, the safety benefits of this need have to be balanced against the discomfort factor for what is often a relatively short journey between home and school). However, students consistently requested additional legroom i.e. seat spacing on these vehicles
