West Lothian Council spending £7m on school transport amid calls for savings

A councillor has made renewed calls for savings on the £7m cost of transporting pupils to West Lothian schools.

Free school transport cost the West Lothian Council £1,245 per pupil for more than 6,000 mainstream pupils in the last year.

According to Conservative Alison Adamson, the bill should be funded by the Scottish Government, which hands out free travel passes to teenagers.

A meeting of the Environment and Sustainability PDSP heard that the target cost for mainstream pupil transport is £1,052 per pupil, which was exceeded by almost £200 per pupil in the last year.

Councillor Adamson first questioned the notion of “free school transport” a year ago, given that the council has to cover the costs.

At a recent meeting of the committee, councillor Adamson again questioned why the council was having to pay for transport when teens are given free bus passes to use public transport.

She said: “I’m assuming this is just mainstream pupils. Is this a statutory requirement that the council faces for school transport for these people?

“I know there has been some work done looking at bus services because I know there would be enormous savings.

“Obviously, it’s not going to work for everyone, but has there been any further forward information about how we can cut back on the costs.

“I’ll say it again. That money for transporting pupils should come from the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government covers bus fares.

“For the 6,000 pupils, can we bring those costs down at all?”

The council has confirmed it is looking at ‘crossover’ areas where normal public transport may be a suitable alternative.

But the “use the bus pass” option is not the simple answer it might appear.

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, the council has a statutory responsibility to provide school transport for those pupils living over the qualifying distance for home to school transport.

Section 42(4) of the Act clarifies that the statutory walking distance is two miles for any pupil under the age of eight, and three miles for any other pupil where attending their catchment school.

The council’s public transport manager, Nicola Gill, told the meeting that while West Lothian had a more generous transport policy than the statutory one covering travel distances, the number of mainstream pupils using provided buses was actually around 4,000.

She said a recent survey of local authorities showed that West Lothian’s costs were around the national average.

Ms Gill added: “We are going to do a review of sustainable transport costs. I know there has been some work done. There would be some savings, but I would have to say they won’t be enormous. It is very much something we are keen to look at and review.

“We will have a paper coming to the committee later this year.”

A council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service previously: “Although commercial bus routes may exist, they may not provide sufficient connection to meet the council’s statutory obligations for school transport.

“West Lothian Council has a generous home to school policy which provides transport for secondary pupils living 2 or more miles from their catchment school and 1.5 miles for primary pupils.”