How do you get your children to school if it isn’t safe to walk or cycle, you aren’t available to drive them, and there’s no bus service?
This is the dilemma that parents at Hazlehead Academy will be facing once the Aberdeen City Council’s plan to cut the bus from Mannofield takes effect on April 1.
The council said that cutting the bus service was part of a difficult but necessary decision to get the budget back in line.
As part of the efforts to close a £46.6 million funding gap, cutting the Hazlehead route 52 from Mannofield saved the council £18,000. Two further cuts removed services to Lochside Academy from Torry and Cove at a savings of £83,000.
And the council is adamant that children can safely walk to school along the busy roads – including Springfield, Queen’s and Wellington Roads – and it has no obligation to provide transportation for children who live within three miles.
But parents like Jacqueline Allan, who lives at the far end of the catchment area, see no sense in the decision to cut the bus service.
“It needs to be fixed, to be honest,” she said. “This is to get to school, this is for education and this is our future. These kids have suffered enough with Covid and strikes, they just don’t need this extra stress.
“Just get my kids to school!”
What are the options available?
Parents are left asking what realistic options they have, and why the council cut the Hazlehead bus service in the first place. They have made their positions clear to local councillors and the service provider First Bus, but so far there are no signs that the services could be restored.
After universal free bus travel for young people was instituted last year, students had a free, guaranteed ride to school every day. Now, parents wonder whether the free bus passes made the service unsustainable and contributed to its downfall.
Either way, cutting the bus service leaves students with three main options for getting to school: walk, cycle, or catch a ride with an adult.
But many parents we spoke to said that none of those options works for them.
Is it safe to walk to school?
Students who live in Mannofield, the far end of the bus route, face a 2.3-mile walk – about 50 minutes – to and from school. This means leaving early in the morning and braving the elements and the dark in winter.
One parent raised the question of children with mobility issues, either due to permanent conditions or injuries.
“What about students in wheelchairs? How are they supposed to get up the hill if there’s no bus and no one to drive?” she asked.
“And what if a child breaks a leg? Are they just supposed to miss school for six weeks?”
She added that for students with additional support needs, a lengthy walk to school is riddled with risks of injury, distraction, bullying and more.
And another Hazlehead parent, Carlos Gonzalez, said he has real safety concerns about the long walk to school.
“Now our sons and daughters will be very vulnerable and exposed to all kinds of dangers.
“I guess saving money now is more important for Aberdeen council than our daughters’ and sons’ wellbeing.”
How about biking?
When it comes to cycling to school, multiple parents raised concerns over safety. Ms Allan said that to encourage kids to bike to school, Hazlehead would need to make some improvements first.
“If they take their bikes, their bikes get wrecked or they get stolen. There are not enough safety procedures, there are not enough bike racks.
“Loads of bikes get stolen from Hazlehead and kids aren’t comfortable taking their bikes because of that.”
Susan Davidson said that, apart from the safety conditions at school, she doesn’t believe the council keeps roads in good enough condition during the winter to expect students to bike to school.
“For those that don’t have cars, can’t drop off due to work commitments or no bikes or can’t afford a bike, this leaves those kids no option but to walk in all sorts of weather conditions.”
Rosemount Place, white. Westburn Road, white. Leadside road and Whitehall Place, glass. Esslemont Avenue, unscaleable glass. Ground to a halt. Cars queued up for a shove with a tiny gritter taking care of the pavements (it looks like) only. pic.twitter.com/n9sy8aaHSL
— Alastair Gossip (@AlastairGossip) March 7, 2023
Can students catch a ride?
Being able to drive kids to school would be an easy solution, but this depends on a number of economic conditions. Parents need a car, which isn’t a given in all parts of the city. In some cases, parents have said they would need multiple cars in order to get to work and school on time.
They also need to work a job with either a late start time or the flexibility to arrive after the school run. One parent, Wendy, said that she would have to change jobs if the bus service isn’t reinstated.
Another parent said her family would need to buy a second car to make work and school feasible.
But Alan Gardner is one of the many parents with few options. He said he can’t see any way for him and his wife to make it work.
“While our daughter can walk to school in around 30-40 minutes, there are several busy roads to contend with and the school itself will be much busier with cars as more parents drop their kids at school.
“We have a son at primary and both of us work, me full-time and my wife part-time, so would not always be able to drop our daughter off ourselves.
“There are no other bus services that we can find that could replace the route the current one takes without heading into town first.”
What about another bus?
There’s a fourth option of catching a public bus. For Ms Allan, Mr Gardner and others, their children would need to get a bus into town and wait there for another to get them to Hazlehead.
But with no direct dedicated route, it would mean risking connections that might run late or being turned away from a full bus.
And whereas students were never marked late as long as they were riding on the school bus, it’s not clear that the same courtesy would extend to other public buses.
That’s not to mention the added pressure on the public, Ms Allan said. With the school bus, students boarded right at the school gates. This meant less congestion on the roads and fewer chances for students to get into trouble and more stress for everyone involved.
“I honestly don’t think it’s fair for the public to ride the same bus as all of the schoolchildren.”
What does the council say about the Hazlehead bus cuts?
Aberdeen City Council has defended its decision in the face of parent complaints.
A council spokesman said that the service ends on March 31. This means that after the Easter holidays, students will need to “walk, cycle or use other bus services to travel to school.”
“As Hazlehead Academy is under three miles walking distance and safe walking routes exist, there is no statutory requirement to provide transport between Mannofield and Hazlehead Academy,” the spokesman said.
“The decision to stop this provision was not taken lightly and consideration was given to alternatives. However, the current financial position has required changes to be made to services across the Council.
“We are currently working with local bus operators to encourage consideration of operating commercial bus services between Mannofield and Hazlehead Academy.”
Hazlehead parents aren’t the only ones facing this dilemma. The council also voted to cut two other services to Lochside Academy from Torry and Cove, which saved £83,000.
Free bus travel from Torry to the new Lochside Academy was a major sticking point when the school was first built. For many families in the area, a bus is the only option.
What can parents do about the Hazlehead bus cut?
With only a few weeks until the cut goes into effect, parents have been lobbying local councillors and asking whether First Bus or another provider could take up the route.
Kristina Boyack called it ‘ridiculous’ to cut a service that has been running since the 1980s. She was one of many parents who expressed an interest in paying to support the bus service.
They have also asked whether there are alternative funding options available. After another programme, Big Noise Torry, was cut from the city budget, the Scottish Government quickly stepped in to reinstate it.
Preserving two Big Noise projects cost the government £1.5 million. Hazlehead’s Number 52 bus costs £18,000.
Ms Allan found herself wondering about the fairness of the situation.
“Where’s the Scottish Government for us?”
Conversation