Vocal Voices

I have just applied for S to see if we get free bus travel for when she goes up to Yr 9.

The school she goes to is on 2 sites - Yrs 7 and 8 at one site and the rest of the school at another.

She is currently at the lower site which is, according to the local authority 1.63 miles away from our house. They do not take into account that it is on the other side of the valley so to get to school they have to walk down one very steep valley and up and down the opposite one. She walks to and from school every day at the moment.

When she moves to the other site not only is it on the other side of town but on the other side of two valleys. I have just spoken to the local authority who have told me to put a request in. I asked them how it was calculated as if it is by post code there is quite a difference in distance between the first house in our post code area and ourselves. I put the details into a walking distance website and by using the post codes alone it tells me that the school is 2.9 miles away. They however told me that the programme that they use (she didn't tell me the name of it) does the distance from within 10 metres of your door to the school door.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that she does get free transport as there is no way she can walk it each day (the walking website I looked at said that it would take 1.25 hours to walk) and the bus fares are ridiculous. When she first started at the school the bus fare was 45p each way but very quickly the fare was put up to 90p each way so it will cost £9 per week just to get her to school and back.

I have put my application in and just need to wait and see now. I did ask about appealing if they said it was less than 3 miles but was told that the computers decision was final and the only way to appeal was if we felt that part of the route was unsafe and that could take up to 4 months to sort out if we go to appeal. I know that our neighbours didn't get it but one is slightly further down the road than us and the other can't remember if he ever bothered to apply again when they changed to a different site - and he also thought it went on distance from your nearest bus stop then.

The very best of luck with that, but dealing with stupid computers and with jobsworths aint easy!

Hope it comes through

Keep your fingers crossed, Debih.

Let's hope you get what you need.

Many years ago when I went to the local Grammar school, my parents had to fight to get me a free bus pass. It was finally agreed that I lived more than two miles from the school by the shortest route which a car could take. Some of this was the access road to a farm. The original application was refused as the nearest bus stop was less than two miles away. THis was nearly one mile from our house which was in the country, not on the main road and bus route.
Good luck with your application.

I do not know if you have seen this Debih: http://www.freemaptools.com/measure-distance.htm

It allows you to plot a route using as many way points as you like and to set a walking speed. The results can be printed off as evidence using your browser print page option.

Based on google maps, so pretty accurate. You can also use the satellite option for the map to show the jobsworths that the world is not flat.

Thanks WM. I've just had a look at it.

It is really difficult to work out as there are so many routes that she could walk and without knowing which route they use it is impossible to know how far it is. They do it in walking distance rather than by road so although I know how far it is as the crow flies (she isn't a crow and won't be flying) or in the car (she won't be driving) I really need to know what route they say.

If they refuse I will ring them to find out what route they say she is supposed to take.