Return to school: latest

The 'window' for applying for the Kent Travel Saver (KTS) closes on 9 August, and many parents remain concerned that they could commit to the cost of the KTS and yet find that there may not be sufficient buses running because of the pressures that social distancing requirements place on capacity. I have posted on this before but the situation continues to change and I have now been able to update with our Public Transport team. There are a number of key points:

From September, operators serving the Darent Valley and surrounding areas (including Go Coach,Hams and Arriva) will be operating their full timetable of normal local bus services, including all school specific services. Timetables should be published in the very near future.

Buses which carry both school students and ordinary members of the public will operate according to government guidance for buses on social distancing. (This includes passengers sitting a minimum of a metre apart; other mitigations such as no use of side seats, those where people can sit opposite each other, no standing passengers and no seat used behind the driver; use of face coverings; measures to protect the driver; and an enhanced hygiene regime). These buses will operate at 50% of normal capacity

Buses which in practice carry only school students will be converted to school only where possible and KCC Public Transport are working with operators to assess how this can best be done. These buses would run under the (different) government guidance for dedicated school transport, which has many of the same mitigations in place as the general public bus, but allows students to sit less than a metre apart. The bus will on this guidance be able to carry 70% of its normal capacity. KCC Public Transport and the operators will advise which services or journeys have been made school only

KCC Public Transport are developing a video presentation, which should be ready in the coming week, to explain what using a bus under these conditions will be like for students. This will go on the KCC and operator websites

KCC Public Transport are monitoring take up of all passes for September and fully understand capacity limits on services and journeys. They will ensure that where they believe there are to be any capacity issue, that additional capacity is provided via another bus. Operators have vehicles available to provide additional capacity

KCC will be issuing further communications on this. It had been intended to issue a formal communication this week, but there conitnue to be delays in receiving government guidance and this led to its being held back. KCC nonetheless continues to monitor and review government guidance, and will respond to further changes. In the meantime, this hopefully provides a clearer picture of developments.