Greater Manchester parents worried children won't get to school on time with bus delays
Melanie Angold has hit out at Transport for Greater Manchester over how the 799 bus is being run, which her son uses to get to school
Delays on a key bus route ‘ruin the start of children’s days’ as they ‘panic if they will get to school on time’, according to a parent.
Melanie Angold has hit out at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) over how the 799 bus is being run, which her son uses to get to school. Melanie’s son hops on the 799 at the first stop in Boothstown to get to class at Urmston Grammar School.
But since the TfGM incorporated the 799 into the Bee Network on January 5, Melanie said her son ‘has been 20 minutes late here and there’ and on one occasion didn’t arrive until ‘9.30am’, more than an hour later than planned. In the evenings, the bus has turned up roughly 40 minutes late on two consecutive Fridays, the 50-year-old added.
“It’s ruining the start of their day. They are panicking if they will get to school,” she continued. “It gives us anxiety. We do not know if they will get to school on time. It’s terrible.”
Other parents have told her one morning a bus ‘driver counted 10 kids on and left eight’ at the stop, while others have also reported missed stops.
Melanie has complained to TfGM on multiple occasions, but claimed staff ‘just say they are looking into it and they have got things planned’. School bus ‘teething issues’ have also been reported in Stockport and Tameside, and mayor Andy Burnham accepted there are ‘issues with school services’ but added ‘we are working on those’ in a meeting with Manchester councillors on Wednesday (February 5).
His comments came a week after TfGM network officer Danny Vaughan said he hoped school bus ‘teething issues’ were ‘a thing of the past’ following the complaints.
Mr Vaughan has now issued a fresh apology for another school bus service, which he believes is improving after being dispatched from the depot earlier in the morning to start journeys on time.
He said in a statement: “We are sorry that the poor performance of this service has upset and inconvenienced pupils, parents and school staff. We accept it has not been good enough, particularly in the first couple of weeks.
“Working with the operator and using feedback from customers they have changed the departure time from the depot to improve reliability and are using the biggest bus in the fleet to provide as much space as possible – and as a result we have seen improvements.
“The safety and welfare of all passengers, especially children, is our top priority, and we remain committed to using the feedback we are getting to work with our operators to ensure buses are reliable and people going to school, work or appointments get where they need to on time.”