Is the "school run" a uniquely British phenomenon? And, if so, what should we be doing about it?

[geoffk]

The difference between term time and school holiday traffic reinforces the argument that there are far too many school-run car trips. (I've put this thread under "Buses and Coaches" but it would also fit into a walking and cycling one.) How is the experience different in mainland Europe?

mod note - as this thread is about the school run in general it has been moved to "other transport"

 

[rg177]

Yes, it was particularly noticeable this morning how my commute down the Coast Road (Newcastle area) has shot up from 25 to around 45-50 mins again when leaving around 8am.

In German-speaking countries its always more noticeable to me when schools kick out as many will use local trains etc. They do of course also appear to finish earlier for the most part so it means many will make their own way home.

I used to walk or bus for the most part (2010 to 2017 was High School/6th Form for me). There were (still are) two dedicated scholars services that but I used to use a local bus which no longer follows the same line of route (so it'd be scholars only now).

 

[alex397]

It appears commonplace in some Central European countries for kids to take themselves to school, even primary age children, by public transport. It would be a shock for children that age to be travelling on public transport (unless it was a special school route) alone in the UK. The culture is different from here.

It may be more commonplace in other countries too, but it’s what I’ve seen in Czechia and Slovakia.

 

[dgl]

One thing they could do is to not move schools to inconvenient locations as they did on Portland, the only schools are now on the top of the Isle and the big one is no longer central. It used to be that most people on the top of the Isle could easily walk to school, no so much now.
Yes I know children used to walk miles to school but if they didn't have to it shouldn't be changed so they do.

Also maybe ban anyone from a certain radius from the school from being allowed to drive their child to school unless they have a legitimate reason, and start having traffic wardens stationed outside schools, the amount of cars you would catch being parked dangerously/illegally.

 

[PeterC]

One thing they could do is to not move schools to inconvenient locations as they did on Portland, the only schools are now on the top of the Isle and the big one is no longer central. It used to be that most people on the top of the Isle could easily walk to school, no so much now.
Yes I know children used to walk miles to school but if they didn't have to it shouldn't be changed so they do.

Also maybe ban anyone from a certain radius from the school from being allowed to drive their child to school unless they have a legitimate reason, and start having traffic wardens stationed outside schools, the amount of cars you would catch being parked dangerously/illegally.

Yellow cap band traffic wardens with proper enforcement powers were abolished decades ago. Civil enforcement officers can only deal with a limited range of strictly defined offences which do not include things like obstruction.

 

[Ken H]

It appears commonplace in some Central European countries for kids to take themselves to school, even primary age children, by public transport. It would be a shock for children that age to be travelling on public transport (unless it was a special school route) alone in the UK. The culture is different from here.

It may be more commonplace in other countries too, but it’s what I’ve seen in Czechia and Slovakia.

I did school by myself from age 5. Involved buses too. But there were shedloads of kids then, born 1956.

 

[Andyh82]

You can’t just have carrot, you’d have to have stick as well, although I don’t know what that would look like

West Yorkshire introduced 150 purpose built yellow buses in the 00s and included in the scheme were lots of new primary school services

Whereas a few still exist today, most have been withdrawn. I remember reading various reports in combined authority meetings where they’d mention some of these services had ridiculously low numbers of passengers travelling. Single digit numbers in full sized vehicles seating 60+ was obviously not sustainable. The primary school services were double manned as well.

Secondary school services have mostly reverted to double decks as cost savings had to be made when the funding of the scheme ran out, also the vehicles reached the end of their economic life, which came quicker than normal due to Metro going with the cheapest vehicle in the first place which resulted in them buying an unusual vehicle that barely anyone else operated and hence parts were scarce/expensive.

 

[InOban]

I suspect that in other countries everyone attends their local school, none of this parental choice.

 

[geoffk]

You can’t just have carrot, you’d have to have stick as well, although I don’t know what that would look like

West Yorkshire introduced 150 purpose built yellow buses in the 00s and included in the scheme were lots of new primary school services

Whereas a few still exist today, most have been withdrawn. I remember reading various reports in combined authority meetings where they’d mention some of these services had ridiculously low numbers of passengers travelling. Single digit numbers in full sized vehicles seating 60+ was obviously not sustainable. The primary school services were double manned as well.

Secondary school services have mostly reverted to double decks as cost savings had to be made when the funding of the scheme ran out, also the vehicles reached the end of their economic life, which came quicker than normal due to Metro going with the cheapest vehicle in the first place which resulted in them buying an unusual vehicle that barely anyone else operated and hence parts were scarce/expensive.

Greater Manchester also went for yellow school buses. I remember reading that both Merseyside and South Yorkshire regarded them as poor value for money in an urban area with comprehensive bus networks (although South Yorks includes a significant rural area).

One difference may be that the UK has more mothers of school-age children going out to work than is the case in, say, Germany or Switzerland, and taking them to school is part of their own journey to work.

 

[greenline712]

Part of the current "school run" problem actually goes back to the 1980s and 1990s, when parents were encouraged to seek out the best school for their little darlings, rather than simply send them to the local school. This meant that many students didn't have a direct bus to get to school . . . hence more parents drove them to school.

More recently, LTAs have scaled back their school bus networks, or even reduced them to "entitled" students only. In Hertfordshire, this happened in 2012, when the County closed all their school contracts, and left it up to "the market" to provide them.

I was at Mullany's Buses at the time, and we had around 20 contracts that would have been reduced to about 4 contracted school runs. We took the balance on commercially, on the understanding that fares would need to rise by about 50%-70% to meet the operational costs . . . we expected to do this over three years to try to keep the increases down. Some routes only lasted one year, as parents couldn't afford the increases . . . some lasted three years, but all went within five-six years.
The financials required a decker with a fully-seated load (so occasionally students would need to stand, which the parents wouldn't accept). We asked some schools to stagger start / finish times, so we could get two runs out of one bus and driver . . . they didn't even respond to us . . . those were the first routes to go.

One of the biggest problems is the demographics of students . . . we had a private contract that required two full deckers from NW London to the school in 2012 . . . within 10 years the numbers dwindled to a handful . . . now the remaining students have to come by car, as the financial case for the bus is no longer there.

The only solution is loads of minibuses on the "many to one" principle, but as the driver is the biggest cost by far, there's no way that parents will pay for that, and schools can't subsidise any network financially, so . . .

 

[deltic]

In the Netherlands a very high proportion of children cycle to school. In the US huge numbers are driven and a lot of six formers will drive themselves to school. I was looking at some research today which suggests people stopped allowing their primary school age children to walk to school in the 1980s as they no longer allowed them to cross busy roads by themselves. I remember in the late 1970s a brother of a girl I knew being knocked down and seriously injured on his first day of being allowed to go to primary school on his own, probably about 8. His sister then being at secondary school.

 

[Roger1973]

I can't comment with authority on other countries, but for the UK, as usual there's multiple factors.

Last time I was involved with this (a while ago now) children were only entitled to free transport if they live over 3 miles from school (2 miles for under 8's) - this dates from the 1944 Education Act, and I'm not sure if it's changed since (and may now be different in the devolved countries.)

This also applies only when child is going to their nearest / catchment school (or further away if they can't be accommodated at that school) - the 'parental choice' from the 80s was on the basis that parents are responsible for travel arrangements and / costs. Some local authorities make discretionary provision for children going to grammar / selective schools (where they still exist) or denominational (religious) schools, but that's increasingly been withdrawn as costs increase and budgets don't.

Local education authorities are (broadly) acting beyond their powers if they provide free transport to 'non entitled' children. Some used to offer 'spare seats' on contract buses / coaches on a free basis if they are available, but parents can't rely on these being available from one term to the next if new 'entitled' children move in to the area. And councils mostly now charge for these.

Local transport authorities (which may or may not be the same as the education authority) can provide tendered bus services for 'non entitled' schools movements, but may not see it as top priority for ever more stretched budgets. And if it's a public service route, any bus needs to comply with all the requirements for accessibility, ticketing / automatic vehicle location kit, which is proportionately more expensive for a bus that only runs a few hours a day, 38 weeks a year.

Parents' organisations / schools can organise private contracted buses / coaches, but peak vehicles are expensive, and where there's small numbers of children from multiple areas travelling to one school then bus / coach routes are less practical, or involve long and roundabout journeys to make up a vehicle's worth. I'm not sure what the legal position is for schools to subsidise such services, but suspect most don't have the budget for it.

Cost of course is not the only consideration - you still get children being driven to / from school in London where there's free bus travel for children.

Private rented housing is insecure and some people have to move house frequently - but may not want child to move school even if they end up off the line of any school bus routes.

Highway / urban design and planning* in the UK is often not friendly to cycling or walking, so there is a perception (with varying degrees of justification) of this being dangerous. There's also a perception of 'stranger danger' if a bus route is open to the public.

* - by planning, the powers of local planning authorities in the UK are a lot less than most people think, and developers can repeatedly appeal against a 'no' or put slightly revised applications until the council gives up.

 

[mangad]

To understand why the school run exists, you have to understand why people are driving their children to school.

I have always walked my children to primary school - it's under a mile after all. But a whopping 25% of all car journeys are apparently under a mile long! People are addicted to cars for my mind!

But there are other contributing factors. Our primary school has a larger SEND provision than many, so there's children coming in by minibuses and taxis, and presumably by car. So that adds up.

There have also been school mergers - smaller schools closed and replaced by fewer, larger ones, which means more travel.

I walk past houses where children are just leaving their house to be driven to other schools rather than the one they live right next to. Why? Good question, but I can tell you two of the other schools are faith schools (one Catholic, one CofE). So if you want a faith based education, you have to travel.

But that's not all. Because I can tell you from the playground that there's parents dropping children off on their way to work. They're timing their own commute around the children.

Finally, primary schools don't encourage children to travel by themselves until a later age. Our school insists on children being picked up until they get to Year 5. Others say Year 6.

There are - I am sure - other factors.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I live 200 yards from my child's primary school and so we do walk them to school. There are people down the bottom of the estate who drive them though- there is no school bus or waking bus, it's half a mile away and the school's at the top of a bit of a hill, they're dropping them off on the way to work anyway.

We don't have 'parental choice' here- the catchment area is the catchment area- and the island is up there as one of the safest places to live in the whole world. But still the roads are noticeably busier in term time.

The main consideration for most people, quite simply, is time. Walking your kid 3/4 mile to school is fine, but then you have to walk back. That's half an hour out of your day when the school doors open at 8.45am but your boss is expecting you at your desk by 9am.

The other consideration, of course, is that fewer people are commuting during the long summer holiday. People who can will take time off or they will work from home. You don't get the same dramatic drop-off in the October and February half-term breaks because most people are still going to work.

 

[The exile]

It appears commonplace in some Central European countries for kids to take themselves to school, even primary age children, by public transport. It would be a shock for children that age to be travelling on public transport (unless it was a special school route) alone in the UK. The culture is different from here.

It may be more commonplace in other countries too, but it’s what I’ve seen in Czechia and Slovakia.

Indeed, in Germany, several rural branches were by the 1980s reduced to one or two trains a day, timed for the schools traffic with the rest of the service by buses. Wiser counsels then prevailed….

 

[WibbleWobble]

The main consideration for most people, quite simply, is time. Walking your kid 3/4 mile to school is fine, but then you have to walk back. That's half an hour out of your day when the school doors open at 8.45am but your boss is expecting you at your desk by 9am.

A lot, but not all. There's a family across the street from me who fall into the latter category. Mum takes the kids to primary school, drops them off, comes back home. All by car. Repeats in reverse at the end of the school day.

School is 0.4 miles from here to the back gate, less than 10 minutes' walk. There's three roads to cross, one with a signalised crossing, and one with a school patrol. When we had to do the same run, it was by foot, making sure there was time to get back home if wife and I were out - none of this being lazy.

Problem is, the school is down a cul-de-sac and there's a secondary school opposite. The primary school has no parking, so it's on the street (or the street at the back), or in the other school's none-too-big car park. Good job there's no school buses, but if there's a school trip on.... yeah (it isn't unknown for coaches to stop out on the main road because getting in and out is too unsafe).

 

[Harpo]

Our nearest primary offers a free school time pass to a public car park about 250m away which would leave surrounding roads clear. The cluster of cars on every inch of legally and illegally available kerb inside that distance at school times creates an unfortunate conclusion.

 

[LUYMun]

There's also a perception of 'stranger danger' if a bus route is open to the public.

Not solely on buses, but when thinking about letting children to walk half a mile to school, parents often worry a lot about the possibilities of 'wrong uns' interfering. That is a massive factor, even if the roads were torn up for more pedestrian and cycle friendly routes, or bus passes provided for every household.

 

[mangad]

Our nearest primary offers a free school time pass to a public car park about 250m away which would leave surrounding roads clear. The cluster of cars on every inch of legally and illegally available kerb inside that distance at school times creates an unfortunate conclusion.

Totally. One entrance to our school is on a tiny street right to the main road. It's clearly signposted as "no vehicles" at school drop off and pick up times. The school equally regularly points this out to parents because they get complaints from the streets residents. Yet every day, every single day, there will be multiple parents using it because it's far more convenient for wherever they're going than the other entrance.

Similarly they're having to look at access controls to the staff car park and taxi drop off because some parents repeatedly use that when they're not supposed to as well.

At one point they got agreement from the local pub about 200m away for parents to use the car park. Did people use it? Guess.

These people apparently can't walk a tiny distance yet alone half a mile, or catch a bus! (And in case anyone is wondering, no it's not disabled people - they can have a permit to use the school car park.)

To be fair, most do actually walk.

 

[Deerfold]

I used to walk to primary school and use public transport the 15 miles to my senior school. To get to senior school I needed to leave home at 0715 and I'd get to school 25 minutes early. If I missed that bus I'd arrive more or less bang on time.

To do that journey now I'd have to leave at 0645 to arrive at a similar time. If I missed the first bus (or it missed) I'd be 25 minutes late.

I can see why parents happy with the first option would now drive their child, at least part of the way.

 

[Dr Day]

In addition to the above, a key reason has to be the propensity for families in UK to live in low density suburban housing compared to many European countries where apartment living is the norm for all household sizes and socioeconomic groups.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Making cycling much safer could potentially make some inroads, particularly for junior age up. Remember the Netherlands is fairly low density too.

 

[markymark2000]

Some used to offer 'spare seats' on contract buses / coaches on a free basis if they are available, but parents can't rely on these being available from one term to the next if new 'entitled' children move in to the area. And councils mostly now charge for these.

Plus now 'spare seat' coaches seemingly need to comply with PSVAR which adds cost to the contract to provide the service and that extra cost must be met pretty much solely by those buying the spare seat (if the spare seat isn't sold, the bus doesn't need to comply with PSVAR).

Parents' organisations / schools can organise private contracted buses / coaches, but peak vehicles are expensive, and where there's small numbers of children from multiple areas travelling to one school then bus / coach routes are less practical, or involve long and roundabout journeys to make up a vehicle's worth. I'm not sure what the legal position is for schools to subsidise such services, but suspect most don't have the budget for it.

Doesn't help that schools don't like students mixing. GHA used to have a great one in Chester with 2 commercial school routes. 1 bus from each school would meet up in Chester Bus Station, kids would mix between the buses, then the buses continued to their respective destinations. That meant 2 buses operating in an 'X' style service with the key interchange point and ensured both deckers were pretty full. Contracted though, that would be 4 buses because you need a bus from each school to each destination. You'd never get that these days as schools take safeguarding to stupid levels of almost wanting kids wrapped up in cotton wool and they should never mix. That in itself is a major issue as if schools don't mix, vehicles can't be used as efficiently and as shown here, this simple mixing of schools meant 2 buses rather than 4.

 

[tram21]

As a sixth form student, I'm thankful and lucky to live on a tram route that takes me to the door of my school in around 35 minutes. Sure, I could be dropped off in about 20, but many students at my school use the tram due to its convenience: it's every 7 minutes, reliable and very cheap, with there always being offers for the U19 Acedemic Year pass NET Tram offers. Because of this, my school has a very large percentage of people using public transport to access it. This goes to show that when you have reliable alternative options, parents will choose the public transport option, ditching the car. Should the tram not exist, the public transport option would be on a slower and less reliable bus (even on the best network in Britain outside London!) and a 10 minute uphill walk. I'd imagine the majority would choose the car in this scenario.

Personally, I think the lack of good urban transport systems creates the need for a 'school run'. In Europe, in particular France & Germany, there are tram systems in every town, which I'd imagine are used by many students. In the UK we lack this, apart from in a select few cities, which generally have the lowest car use in the country.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Our nearest primary offers a free school time pass to a public car park about 250m away which would leave surrounding roads clear. The cluster of cars on every inch of legally and illegally available kerb inside that distance at school times creates an unfortunate conclusion.

Some county councils are now setting up School Streets to basically block off the nearby roads to cars at pick-up/drop-off time: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/school-streets/about-school-streets

When I was doing the school run every day the other year (three miles each way on rural roads), I bought an e-cargo bike, a Tern GSD, specifically for this. I did not want to spend large parts of my day manoeuvring for a parking space either at the school itself or in the narrow, contested streets of our town. The bike was a thousand times easier and the kids loved it.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Some county councils are now setting up School Streets to basically block off the nearby roads to cars at pick-up/drop-off time: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/school-streets/about-school-streets

Somerset is trialling the same in Frome for 18 months. Makes a lot of sense

 

[Bletchleyite]

When I was doing the school run every day the other year (three miles each way on rural roads), I bought an e-cargo bike, a Tern GSD, specifically for this. I did not want to spend large parts of my day manoeuvring for a parking space either at the school itself or in the narrow, contested streets of our town. The bike was a thousand times easier and the kids loved it.

The Terns are excellent e-cargo bicycles, but the price (around £6K) is eye-watering - certainly a similar price at which a reasonable second-hand small car can be purchased. I assume they must have some sort of patent on the design, because unlike every other type of bicycle going nobody seems to have done a clone at a more reasonable price quite as well - there are other longtail, small wheel cargo cycles, but none of them seem to have quite as good a design, which on the face of it would seem easy to copy unless something is legally preventing that.

Of course that renders them very much a "champagne socialist" purchase. Which is fine in itself, but until you get well below £2K you're not going to sell them to the masses. And, importantly, until you make cycling properly safe, with Dutch style segregation and more 20mph (and ideally allow e-bike assist up to 20 so all traffic rides together where it isn't segregated).

 

[cactustwirly]

Making cycling much safer could potentially make some inroads, particularly for junior age up. Remember the Netherlands is fairly low density too.

Problem is you can't store them anywhere outside of your house or else they will get nicked.
Railway stations are the worst for this, it's a daily occurrence at a few stations near me and the police don't do anything.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Problem is you can't store them anywhere outside of your house or else they will get nicked.
Railway stations are the worst for this, it's a daily occurrence at a few stations near me and the police don't do anything.

Schools could provide properly secure storage, of course. And insurance isn't expensive, at which point it getting nicked ceases to really be your problem aside from the inconvenience, provided you use a good lock and actually do lock it up.

Though it doesn't help that there are so many stupid designs of cycle storage out there - in particular bolted-down Sheffield stands which can simply be unbolted (yes, you, WMT).

 

[Doctor Fegg]

The Terns are excellent e-cargo bicycles, but the price (around £6K) is eye-watering - certainly a similar price at which a reasonable second-hand small car can be purchased. I assume they must have some sort of patent on the design, because unlike every other type of bicycle going nobody seems to have done a clone at a more reasonable price quite as well - there are other longtail, small wheel cargo cycles, but none of them seem to have quite as good a design, which on the face of it would seem easy to copy unless something is legally preventing that.

I get that there is a lot of "sticker shock" about the price and the GSD is certainly a premium product. But the situation is getting better, I think. The Decathlon R500E is the standard cheap Ternalike and that's £2,700; cheap new cars start at £15k (a Dacia Spring or Citroen C3). The big bike manufacturers like Trek and Specialized are starting to move into the space too.

A lot of the potential for this sort of bike is replacing the second car - £2,700 for something the kids will love, vs the hassle and running expense of a used car. And I don't know anyone who's bought a GSD (or similar) and regretted it. Even though I don't do that particular school run any more, one of the parents who does now regularly borrows our GSD because his kid loves it so much.

And, importantly, until you make cycling properly safe, with Dutch style segregation

So much this. London is slowly getting it right but many places aren't (looking at you, Oxford).

One of the many good things about the GSD is that it really is built like a tank. I've never felt at all unsafe on it even despite a school run along twisty and occasionally fast rural roads.