Bus driver sent for retraining after complaint by school pupil
Twm Owen, local democracy reporter
A bus driver was sent for retraining after a complaint about the standard of their driving by a school pupil.
The decision, by Newport Bus, was highlighted when a councillor raised concerns about alleged “overcrowding” on vehicles now used by school pupils.
Monmouthshire County Council has been providing free bus passes, to qualifying pupils, to use public service buses rather than it putting on dedicated school buses on some routes since the start of the new term in September.
But Conservative councillor Tony Kear alleged the number 60 Newport Bus service, which takes pupils from Usk to Monmouth Comprehensive, is “overcrowded”.
The Usk member said he was concerned about pupils having to stand on the bus and said: “Newport Bus, following complaints from one pupil, referred a driver for further training.”
Safe driving standards
He asked at the full council’s September meeting what steps the council was taking to ensure safe driving standards.
He said parents have raised with him the “double standard” that dedicated school buses have to be fitted with seatbelts while pupils are allowed to stand on public service buses which he called “legally overcrowded”.
Councillor Martyn Groucutt, the Labour cabinet member responsible, said the council’s passenger unit regularly undertakes unannounced visits of buses used for school transport.
He said: “I was aware of the incident you raised. It was picked up and the driver sent for retraining and I hope that never happens again and share your disquiet we had children on the bus at the time.”
A spokesman for Newport Bus told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Newport Transport are unable to make comment about individual employees.”
In response to Cllr Kear’s complaint the bus is “overcrowded” Cllr Groucutt had said he was “not aware of any complaints of overcrowding”.
Bus passes
He said the number 60 bus to Monmouth has a capacity between 61 and 70 passengers with a seating capacity of 29 to 33 and the council has issued bus passes to 29 pupils.
Cllr Groucutt said the average number of fare paying passengers is 20 meaning there is usually around 49 passengers on the bus
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The exact same thing happening at Bishop of Llandaff High School,Cardiff. Overcrowding,kids who pay for their bus pass being made to wait while the bus fills up with the free pass kids.
When I was a kid in school long ago, bus operators routinely monitored use of the services at peak hours, and strove, where necessary, to put an extra bus on where indications demonstrated that it was normatively necessary. Seems the obvious solution.
That would mean taking buses off other routes so they’ll just be moving the problems elsewhere.
It didn’t have that effect back then. They had peak hour morning and evening crew shifts, and used a residue of their older buses to provide the augmented service.
I dont often see buses that are in one piece sat in the depot during peak times they are all already on the road. A bus that’s wheels aren’t turning with passengers on or a driver who’s on the clock and isn’t driving passengers are just burning through money.
Possibly, despite the incontestable rigours of the lean years following WW2, this country nonetheless ran its bus services more responsively and effectively back then than is the case now?
Its not the bus driver that needs retraining, it public. Councillors, do they think that this does not hapoen everywhere else, try x Checking other schools and sit on a qoute normal school bus and see the differnce . I implore you to try duffryn or st joesphes school busses.the real ones that are not well behaved. Will you retrain the pupils on how to behave and enforce it I doubt it very much. It woukd be great for the poor bus driver if you would.make his k Life much better if they were alliwed to do their job without… Read more »