Special needs children's bus services to be cut (From Croydon Guardian)
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Croydon Council looks to cut costs by changing transport services for special needs children
10:07am Friday 9th December 2011 in News By Nick Hitchens
Special needs children's bus services to be cut
Kids with special needs might be getting on regular buses to school under proposed changes to travel services.
Croydon Council is looking to cut down its taxi and bus services as it seeks to make savings.
It has launched a public consultation into how it provides school travel for those with special needs.
The council said it wanted to “allow parents to arranger their lives and those of their children in a way that suits them”.
The council is planning to build a new special educational needs (SEN) school and hopes this will result in easier travel for many parents.
Options considered include training some children with SEN to ride regular transport to and from school, or arranging pick-up and drop-off points instead of a door to door service.
It is also considering a private transport budget for parents.
Councillor Tim Pollard, cabinet member for children, young people and learners, said: “It is vital we maintain a proper level of service for parents and young people – particularly those who are the most vulnerable and in the greatest need.
“For this reason we will be listening very closely to everyone who contributes to this and I am committed to taking notice of all of the views we receive so that our final decision is a balanced and informed one.”
Gunboat says...
10:56am Thu 15 Dec 11
My son is autistic and attends a special school. There is no way that many of the children there are capable of using public transport without support.
This means that all of these parents would either have to use public transport to take their children to school (not easy at the best of times & impossible if they have other children at primary school).
Although we live fairly near my sons school my partner will have to use the personal travel budge to take him on two buses (my partner does not drive) to get there as well as taking along our young daughter. This will be close to impossible when my daughter starts school.