School travel consultation

Colourful illustration showing people travelling along a street - including people walking, wheeling and cycling. Some people are waiting at the bus stops with buses travelling along the road.

The Combined Authority is reviewing the way it supports travel to and from school across West Yorkshire.

We think we need a new, sustainable travel to school strategy and to make changes to our policy for the services we provide. This includes our policy regarding the provision of dedicated school bus services for children and young people in secondary school. This will support our plans to deliver a sustainable, integrated transport network across the region, which connects people to opportunity and helps them to build happy and healthy lives.

We would like your views on what we are proposing.

This consultation runs from Wednesday 23 April to 23:59pm Wednesday 11 June 2025. This webpage gives you details about our proposals and how you can get involved.

The questionnaire is open to everyone, but we particularly want to hear from you if you are:

Currently in secondary or primary school
A parent or carer of a child currently in school
Responding on behalf of a school

Your feedback will help us ensure that travel to school is reliable, affordable and safe for children and their parents, as well as support our efforts to make sure our local transport network works for everyone, no matter where they are travelling to in West Yorkshire.

You can read our consultation document which contains all the information you need to answer our questionnaire. Please share your views by completing our questionnaire(External link) by Wednesday 11 June 2025.

If you need to respond in a different way or need the consultation materials in another format or language, please email us at schooltravelconsultation@westyorks-ca.gov.uk(External link) or call 0113 245 7676 (MetroLine). You can use your web browser’s translation feature to access this webpage and survey in different languages.

إذا احتجت إلى تلقي الرد بطريقة مختلفة أو الحصول على مواد الاستشارة بصيغة أو بلغة أخرى، يُرجى مراسلتنا عبر البريد الإلكتروني التالي: schooltravelconsultation@westyorks-ca.gov.uk(External link) أو الاتصال هاتفيًا على الرقم: 01132457676 (خدمة "مترو لاين" MetroLine).

જો તમારે અલગ રીતે જવાબ આપવાની જરૂર હોય અથવા બીજા ફોર્મેટ અથવા ભાષામાં પરામર્શની સામગ્રીની જરૂર હોય, તો કૃપા કરીને અમને schooltravelconsultation@westyorks-ca.gov.uk(External link) પર ઇમેઇલ કરો અથવા 0113 245 7676 (મેટ્રોલાઇન) પર કૉલ કરો.

Jeśli chcesz odpowiedzieć w inny sposób lub potrzebujesz materiałów pomocniczych w innej formie lub języku, napisz do nas na adres schooltravelconsultation@westyorks-ca.gov.uk(External link) lub zadzwoń pod numer 0113 245 7676 (MetroLine).

ਜੇਕਰ ਤੁਹਾਨੂੰ ਕਿਸੇ ਵੱਖਰੇ ਤਰੀਕੇ ਨਾਲ ਜਵਾਬ ਦੇਣ ਦੀ ਲੋੜ ਹੈ ਜਾਂ ਕਿਸੇ ਹੋਰ ਫਾਰਮੈਟ ਜਾਂ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਲਾਹ-ਮਸ਼ਵਰਾ ਸਮੱਗਰੀ ਦੀ ਲੋੜ ਹੈ, ਤਾਂ ਕਿਰਪਾ ਕਰਕੇ ਸਾਨੂੰ schooltravelconsultation@westyorks-ca.gov.uk(External link) 'ਤੇ ਈਮੇਲ ਕਰੋ ਜਾਂ 0113 245 7676 (MetroLine) 'ਤੇ ਕਾਲ ਕਰੋ।

Dacă doriți să răspundeți la această consultare/dezbatere publică într-un alt mod sau aveți nevoie ca documentele de consultare publică (broșura si chestionarul) să fie traduse in limba română, vă rugăm să ne trimiteți un e-mail la schooltravelconsultation@westyorks-ca.gov.uk(External link) sau să ne contactați telefonic la 0113 245 7676 (MetroLine).

اگر آپ کو مختلف طریقے سے جواب دینے کی ضرورت ہے یا کسی دوسرے فارمیٹ یا زبان میں مشاورتی مواد کی ضرورت ہے، تو براہ کرم ہمیں schooltravelconsultation@westyorks-ca.gov.uk(External link) پر ای میل کریں یا 01132457676 (MetroLine) پر کال کریں۔

HAVE YOUR SAY

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE READ OUR CONSULTATION DOCUMENT

YOU CAN ALSO READ THE EASY READ VERSION OF OUR CONSULTATION DOCUMENT

Our next steps

After the consultation closes, we will analyse all feedback received and use this to report on findings and our recommendations to the meeting of the Combined Authority on Thursday 31 July 2025. This will support the Combined Authority to agree a new policy.

Any changes to school bus travel will be implemented over time and we would engage and consult, as necessary, later in the year on any proposed service-specific changes.

School services and budgets have already been agreed for the 2025/26 school years. Any changes to our policy would therefore be implemented from September 2026 (the 2026/27 school year) at the earliest.

A family of four (including three children and a man) walking along a street holding hands. The man is holding a small child.

Background

The law requires local authorities to provide free home to school transport for some children. This includes children of compulsory school age (5-16 years old), going to their nearest suitable school and one of the following applies:

They are under 8 years old, and the school is more than 2 miles away from their home.
They are 8 years old or over and the school is more than 3 miles away from their home.
They wouldn’t be able to walk there safely, even if accompanied by a parent or carer.
They wouldn’t be able walk there because of their special educational needs, disability or a mobility problem, even if accompanied by a parent or carer.

Going above this minimum legal level of support, the Combined Authority coordinates services on behalf of our five local authority partners. We currently spend nearly £19m a year paying bus operators to provide 329 dedicated school buses services across West Yorkshire. These buses are used by over 20,000 children. This is far more than our legal requirement, so we believe things need to change. That’s because:

Provision is inconsistent across West Yorkshire, with some areas and schools getting more buses than others.
Satisfaction with school buses, and the wider bus network, continues to vary with many still preferring to travel by private car.
The full cost to run dedicated school buses is rising and not being covered by the current way they are funded, including fares income and money from local authorities.

Along with other measures, we are reviewing when and where the Combined Authority provides dedicated school buses for secondary school aged children.

Transport for primary school children, children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, and young people in post-16 further education are not part of this consultation.

Four students are dressed in school uniform standing next to a brick wall. In the foreground, a girl is laughing surrounded by three others.

What are we considering?

As part of our emerging travel to school strategy, we have been considering our provision of dedicated school bus services for secondary school aged children and young people. We have considered the following four main policy options:

Option one: continue as is by retaining the existing guidelines with the agreed, existing budget – whereby we contract services using the existing policy guidelines within the limits of the current budget available to us and continue to reduce service provision accordingly, as they become more expensive to run.
Option two: fulfil statutory requirements only – whereby we would change our policy and seek to only provide free, home to school transport for children and young people ‘eligible’ under law and reduce existing provision accordingly.
Option three: retain the existing guidelines with revised funding arrangements – whereby we renew the contracts for the existing school services and explore alternative funding arrangements such as increased fares or greater contributions from schools, to increase the budget available to fund more services.
Option four: implement a new sustainable travel to school policy – whereby, in principle:
- Those children and young people who can safely walk, wheel, or cycle to school should be encouraged to do so.
- Those children and young people who cannot safely walk, wheel or cycle should be able and feel confident to use public transport services to get to school.
- Dedicated buses should be provided for pupils who can’t walk, wheel, cycle or access a public transport service to get to their nearest, suitable secondary school. Unless eligible for free travel under law, the pupil should be charged an affordable and equitable fare for their journey whether they are travelling by a public or dedicated school bus service.

Any new policy for the provision of dedicated bus services to secondary schools will also link to wider plans for an integrated transport system for West Yorkshire. This includes franchised buses(External link) - where the majority of all buses will be under the control of the Combined Authority – a new mass transit system(External link), major rail improvements and better links for walking, wheeling and cycling(External link).

Your feedback matters

We want to hear from you about the proposed changes to school transport policy in West Yorkshire - especially if you are a parent or carer, a child or young person, or you represent a school. Your views will help us understand how these changes might affect people and will guide the provision of dedicated buses to secondary schools from September 2026 onwards.

HAVE YOUR SAY

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE READ OUR CONSULTATION DOCUMENT

You can share your feedback by Wednesday 11 June 2025. You can also contact us in the following ways:

Email: schooltravelconsultation@westyorks-ca.gov.uk(External link)

Phone: 0113 245 7676 (MetroLine)

Post: FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM WYCA (no stamp required)

Colourful illustration showing people travelling along a street - including people walking, wheeling and cycling. Some people are waiting at the bus stops with buses travelling along the road.

The Combined Authority is reviewing the way it supports travel to and from school across West Yorkshire.

We would like your views on what we are proposing.

This consultation runs from Wednesday 23 April to 23:59pm Wednesday 11 June 2025. This webpage gives you details about our proposals and how you can get involved.

The questionnaire is open to everyone, but we particularly want to hear from you if you are:

Currently in secondary or primary school
A parent or carer of a child currently in school
Responding on behalf of a school

HAVE YOUR SAY

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE READ OUR CONSULTATION DOCUMENT

YOU CAN ALSO READ THE EASY READ VERSION OF OUR CONSULTATION DOCUMENT

Our next steps

Any changes to school bus travel will be implemented over time and we would engage and consult, as necessary, later in the year on any proposed service-specific changes.

A family of four (including three children and a man) walking along a street holding hands. The man is holding a small child.

Background

They are under 8 years old, and the school is more than 2 miles away from their home.
They are 8 years old or over and the school is more than 3 miles away from their home.
They wouldn’t be able to walk there safely, even if accompanied by a parent or carer.
They wouldn’t be able walk there because of their special educational needs, disability or a mobility problem, even if accompanied by a parent or carer.

Provision is inconsistent across West Yorkshire, with some areas and schools getting more buses than others.
Satisfaction with school buses, and the wider bus network, continues to vary with many still preferring to travel by private car.
The full cost to run dedicated school buses is rising and not being covered by the current way they are funded, including fares income and money from local authorities.

Along with other measures, we are reviewing when and where the Combined Authority provides dedicated school buses for secondary school aged children.

Transport for primary school children, children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, and young people in post-16 further education are not part of this consultation.

Four students are dressed in school uniform standing next to a brick wall. In the foreground, a girl is laughing surrounded by three others.

What are we considering?

Option one: continue as is by retaining the existing guidelines with the agreed, existing budget – whereby we contract services using the existing policy guidelines within the limits of the current budget available to us and continue to reduce service provision accordingly, as they become more expensive to run.
Option two: fulfil statutory requirements only – whereby we would change our policy and seek to only provide free, home to school transport for children and young people ‘eligible’ under law and reduce existing provision accordingly.
Option three: retain the existing guidelines with revised funding arrangements – whereby we renew the contracts for the existing school services and explore alternative funding arrangements such as increased fares or greater contributions from schools, to increase the budget available to fund more services.
Option four: implement a new sustainable travel to school policy – whereby, in principle:
- Those children and young people who can safely walk, wheel, or cycle to school should be encouraged to do so.
- Those children and young people who cannot safely walk, wheel or cycle should be able and feel confident to use public transport services to get to school.
- Dedicated buses should be provided for pupils who can’t walk, wheel, cycle or access a public transport service to get to their nearest, suitable secondary school. Unless eligible for free travel under law, the pupil should be charged an affordable and equitable fare for their journey whether they are travelling by a public or dedicated school bus service.