Sioned Williams MS calls for Learner Travel mileage thresholds to be reviewed due to “extortionate” steep daily walks for Neath pupils
Sioned Williams MS has urged the Welsh Government to include a review of the current mileage thresholds in the new Learner Travel proposals.
Currently secondary school pupils who live within 3 miles of their school are not eligible for free school transport.
Ms Williams says a constituent from Melin, who isn’t a car owner, has recently revealed that they are paying £400 a month between public transport and lunch money costs for their three children to attend Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School.
The walk from their home to Cefn Season is just over 2 miles, but it includes an uphill stretch that’s higher than The Tower at Meridian Quay in Swansea – currently the tallest building in Wales – and can take pupils an hour to walk.
While a weekly ticket on the school bus is £13 per week, for those who do not live on this route, or who, for other reasons, need to use public transport, the cost can be as much as £16.50 per week.
Sioned Williams MS, Plaid Cymru Member of Senedd for South Wales West, said:
“Secondary school pupils can be walking up to six miles every day before they’re eligible for free school transport. This is a lot to ask of any pupil, but particularly those who have to walk up a such a steep climb like Cimla Hill to Cefn Saeson school. At over 440 feet, that’s higher than the tallest building in Wales!
“For some pupils, who don’t have the option of a lift and especially in dark winter months or in bad weather where the walk is even less appealing, their only option is to pay for transport. I understand from parents that children are often encouraged to catch the bus to stop them trying to take the short cut through Eaglesbush Valley, a beautiful, but remote nature reserve.
“Once you couple the cost of public transport with school dinner money, then the costs of education really mount up. I was horrified to hear that one of my constituents regularly has to pay up £400 a month just to get their three children safely to school and fed once they’re there.
“When the cost of school transport is regularly cited as a reason that so many pupils miss school, and if Welsh Government really is serious about ensuring every child is given an equal opportunity to reach their potential, then it’s an opportunity missed not to address this point in their review of Learner Travel guidance.”