Isle of Wight Green Party’s parliamentary candidate, Vix Lowthion, shares this latest news. Ed
Isle of Wight Green Party urges Isle of Wight Council to support public transport options for all school children on the Isle of Wight.
As reported recently, over 100 pupils are missing out on a school bus place this September – many of them in areas which are already inadequately served by public buses. Therefore the only option available to these families is to use the car to get to school.
The maths
To get 100 pupils there and back twice a day = 400 car journeys.
- Five days a week = 2,000 car journeys
- 39 weeks a year = 78,000 extra car journeys
- Five school years = 390,000 extra car journeys
And that’s just projected for the 2018/19 students. It will get even worse as the years progress, unless extra capacity (buses, increased size of buses) is added into the system.
Lowthion: “We must support school transport”
Vix Lowthion, education spokesperson for IW Greens, says,
“Public transport is a public good. We must support school transport which adequately meets the needs of our young people – and gets cars off the road!
“The Council talks of being cost effective, but parents taking time off work or paying for additional child care is not a cost effective way to get a child to school.
“I urge the council to see common sense, support all road users especially at rush hour, and increase capacity on our school buses swiftly.”
