Safety of Pupils

The Council is responsible for the general safety and welfare of pupils during the time they are being conveyed and when boarding / alighting the vehicle.

We provide a seat for every child who has been authorized to receive transport. It is thus very important that pupils travel on the vehicle on which they have been allocated.

Only Public Transport Unit Staff are authorized to allocate pupils to vehicles. Drivers are issued with pupil lists detailing the pupils who are allocated to their vehicles.

It is important the pupils follow the instructions of drivers. In particular pupils should remain seated during the journey and at no time should they attempt to open or close the doors of the vehicle.

Travel Pass

Pupils issued with a travel pass should produce it to the driver at the start of every journey and to any authorized employee of the Council. The pass is only valid for the contract detailed on the pass.

If a travel pass is lost, damaged or stolen, this should be reported to the school immediately. A charge will be made for each replacement pass issued ( £2.00 with Cheque / Postal Orders made payable to Aberdeenshire Council ).

Seatbelts

The Council requires all vehicles up to a seating capacity of 16 seats to be fitted with passenger restraints.

Vehicles with a seating capacity exceeding 16 fall into line with the Department of Transport's requirement on seat belts installation, which briefly, require seat belts to be provided on coaches only.

Parents should advise their children of the seat belt wearing practices that they would expect their children to adopt.

 

Pupil Behaviour

Any misbehaviour by pupils while traveling on school transport that could affect the safety of pupils, driving staff and / or other road users may lead to sanctions. In such situations, pupils will be subject to the normal disciplinary rules of their school and the Education Authority. The sanctions used in respect of misbehaviour on school transport could include exclusion from school.

Smoking on any vehicle conveying pupils to / from school is strictly forbidden.

Pupils and drivers who disregard this rule will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action.

Contractors may ask parents for payment for repairs in the event of any damage caused to a vehicle by their child.

The Council does use on board video surveillance systems on vehicles used in the execution of home to school transport services. On buses where such systems are used, clearly displayed notices will indicate this.

 

Privilege seats and fare paying buses

Transport provision is also made available for pupils who are not entitled to free transport.

On dedicated school transport services privilege seats are, subject to spare seating capacity, made available to non-entitled pupils on an annual basis at a fixed charge. To ease payment ‘School Privilege Passes’ may be purchased by cheque or through incremental direct debit payment. Application forms for privilege seats are available from your school.

Where a privilege seat is requested for a pupil who is not attending their zoned school, no additional mileage, or alteration, to the route is permitted.

10-journey privilege tickets are also available for travel on dedicated school transport vehicles for pupils who don’t use the service on a regular basis. These tickets can be purchased at your school on production of a ’10-Journey Privilege Pass’ that is available from the Public Transport Unit. Application forms are available from your school. Again these tickets are only available if there are spare seats on the vehicle.

A small number of school transport services also operate as local bus services, open to the general public. On these services non-entitled pupils may purchase single, return or 10-journey tickets, at ten for the price of seven, on the bus. Discounted ‘School Bus Passes’ are also sold with application forms available from your school.

In the case of both privilege seats and fare paying buses further discounts are available for pupils in receipt of free school meals, full details of which are provided by the school. Family discounts are also available.