THE DAYS of Thurrock students getting the bus to school appear to be over as the council have pulled the plug on the annual bill of nearly £400,000 spent ferrying teenagers back and fro from college.
The free transport applied to all Thurrock sixteen year olds who lived over three miles away from their place of study.
But at last nights meeting of the childrens services committee, it was proposed to a no fares policy was unfair on the taxpayer.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Thurrock has the second highest transport bill for over-sixteens. Only the Isle of Wight has a larger bill.
Most councillors noted that Palmer’s College was a virtual no-go zone at 4pm due to the high volume of buses.
Portfolio holder, cllr Diana Hale said: “This will mean a £240 bill for students and parents in the borough. On top of losing the educational maintenance allowance, this is a real double whammy for Thurrock students.”
Shadow portfolio holder, cllr Sue MacPherson said: “There are students that travel to Dartford and Leigh-on-Sea for certain courses. We need to ensure there are courses that mean they have no need to travel.”
As this article is about transport to college I see no problem with charging for transport, these students have made the choice of which educational establishment they want to continue at, this is not school busses for the general school child.
When choosing a college surely they must look at the distances they have to travel and make arrangements to get to and from there, the next thing they will be after is free transport to and from work once they leave (assuming there any jobs left in UK plc)
School buses for sixth form or college i don’t thinks so – should have been axed years ago.
Unless it is totally specialist all Thurrock students should go to a local establishment not go to Southend for a beauty course when they are here in Thurrock – and yes it does happen -and yes we have been picking up the fares.
What we should me doing is making sure that SEEC are providing enough places for students and not forcing them to go to their other colleges in southend, if they cant supply enough places in Thurrock then they should give the students the money to travel to their other colleges not expect the council or the taxpayer to pick up the bill.