Sheffield school buses 'working remarkably well' despite Covid restrictions, says transport bosses
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Coun Mohammed Mahroof raised concerns at a scrutiny meeting that pupils were not socially distancing on buses in the city.
He said: “There’s been a number of parents extremely concerned about the school buses, they are rather overcrowded and there’s not a great deal of social distancing happening.
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Hide Ad“My concern, and the concerns of the parents, is with secondary school children predicted to be the next highest rate of infections, will this cause a problem?”
Bus bosses said pupils were exempt from social distancing on designated school buses.
Phil Medlicott, managing director of Stagecoach, said: “Normal public transport rules require social distancing then there are special rules for what are deemed to be closed or school contracts – usually for a single school with a single vehicle.
“We’ve agreed to convert some of our commercial revenues to dedicated school buses so there’s no need for social distancing.
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Hide Ad“There is a requirement that they wear masks and they’re meant to be policed by the actual school themselves to constantly remind them.
"The school buses might seem fuller than normal buses but none of them are illegally overloaded.”
Nigel Eggleton, managing director of First, said the Department of Education had given dedicated funding for school buses.
“There was a great deal of nervousness in Government in late July about the ability of public transport to carry children but in practice it’s worked remarkably well because we’ve worked very closely with the local authority and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority to understand those school movements.”
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