School bus travel in Bury cut by £1
After a year of campaigning for reductions on bus travel rates for children in Bury, the Borough’s young people will be able to save £1 a week on the cost of school travel from next month.
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA) is introducing a new £6 weekly ticket for three of the school bus services it provides in the borough. It currently costs 70p for a single child ticket. The Bury members of GMPTA are my fellow Lib Dem Councillor Andrew Garner, and me.
The School Saver ticket will be valid on the 799 service to Derby High and the 797 and 798 to St Monica’s RC High in Prestwich .
The new School Saver ticket could save families in the borough nearly £40 a year on school travel costs. I’m pleased we’ve been able to provide the ticket on three of the school bus services we provide in Bury. Unfortunately, we’re not able to extend the offer to commercial services, and of course we continue to campaign for big reductions and more fairness in children’s school bus travel..
The new School Saver ticket will be on sale from Monday 31 March in newsagents, supermarkets and garages across Bury with the Pay Point sign, as well as from the GMPTE Travelshop in Bury Interchange.
Pupils will be able to buy the School Saver ticket up to three days in advance of its start date and will need a GMPTE Under 16 membership card. The card is free and application forms can be picked up from Travelshops or downloaded from www.gmpte.com/under16
Rick
2 Comments
have your say
when will the school saver ticket be extended to all school buses in the bury area . Two of my children attend Elton High
school and it costs us 60 pound a week to send them to school on the school bus.
Hi Helen,
£60 sounds very high indeed for two children going to school and back. The System One Travel card is £7 per week and is avaialble to use on all buses in the area. This is a much cheaper alternative than paying for individual tickets each time. The new £6 ticket is available on some routes, but can’t be extended to others because of the costs involved. Unfortunately the Council has little control over the bus network, which is something the Lib Dems have consistently campaigned to change.
Rick