Save 50% child fares on The Green Bus!
The Issue
http://www.thegreenbus.co.uk/Centro/
Centro wish to cut child fare funding to customers of The Green Bus, either by 50% or completely. This would leave parents to pay an additional £300 or £600 per annual pass, which we think is completely unacceptable - particularly when many family budgets are already under pressure. It would be entirely wrong for Centro to cut child fare funding to customers of The Green Bus but not for other child fares in the West Midlands.
We want Centro to accept the very sensible compromise offer put to them by The Green Bus on 14 March 2012. That would involve parents paying around £50 extra per year, The Green Bus finding some savings and a saving for Centro of £130,000 per year for the next three years.
The Green Bus is not a “nice to have” service: it is essential for 2000 families who rely on it every day. The Green Bus takes many thousands of car journeys off the road every week. We have put it very clearly to Centro that the ordinary bus network is no substitute for the long and complex journeys of The Green Bus. Without our services, many pupils would have multiple changes of bus. Journeys would be much longer (up to an hour longer each way for some pupils); drivers would not be CRB checked; buses would not be independently safety-checked; no text messages would be sent - the list goes on.
• In a recent survey, 96 % of parents said that having a direct journey was an important factor in choosing The Green Bus. This clearly demonstrates that parents do not want their children to have to change buses on the way to and from school.
• Over 48% said they would travel by car if The Green Bus was no longer an option. This could mean well in excess of 2000 additional car journeys per day across the West Midlands.
• Almost 20% of parents said that it would no longer be viable for their child to continue attending their current school, causing huge disruption to their child’s education.
We have received hundreds of emails about Centro’s proposed cuts. There can be no doubt that parents feel very strongly that pupils using The Green Bus should be treated equally, and that they should retain the same half-price fares enjoyed by all other children in the West Midlands.
From me and everyone at The Green Bus, we thank you for your astonishing efforts and hope that our continued effort can cause Centro to change its mind.
Centro have said that they will come back to us on 28 March 2012. Please sign our petition to show the councillors who run Centro that your vote will really count.
The Issue
http://www.thegreenbus.co.uk/Centro/
Centro wish to cut child fare funding to customers of The Green Bus, either by 50% or completely. This would leave parents to pay an additional £300 or £600 per annual pass, which we think is completely unacceptable - particularly when many family budgets are already under pressure. It would be entirely wrong for Centro to cut child fare funding to customers of The Green Bus but not for other child fares in the West Midlands.
We want Centro to accept the very sensible compromise offer put to them by The Green Bus on 14 March 2012. That would involve parents paying around £50 extra per year, The Green Bus finding some savings and a saving for Centro of £130,000 per year for the next three years.
The Green Bus is not a “nice to have” service: it is essential for 2000 families who rely on it every day. The Green Bus takes many thousands of car journeys off the road every week. We have put it very clearly to Centro that the ordinary bus network is no substitute for the long and complex journeys of The Green Bus. Without our services, many pupils would have multiple changes of bus. Journeys would be much longer (up to an hour longer each way for some pupils); drivers would not be CRB checked; buses would not be independently safety-checked; no text messages would be sent - the list goes on.
• In a recent survey, 96 % of parents said that having a direct journey was an important factor in choosing The Green Bus. This clearly demonstrates that parents do not want their children to have to change buses on the way to and from school.
• Over 48% said they would travel by car if The Green Bus was no longer an option. This could mean well in excess of 2000 additional car journeys per day across the West Midlands.
• Almost 20% of parents said that it would no longer be viable for their child to continue attending their current school, causing huge disruption to their child’s education.
We have received hundreds of emails about Centro’s proposed cuts. There can be no doubt that parents feel very strongly that pupils using The Green Bus should be treated equally, and that they should retain the same half-price fares enjoyed by all other children in the West Midlands.
From me and everyone at The Green Bus, we thank you for your astonishing efforts and hope that our continued effort can cause Centro to change its mind.
Centro have said that they will come back to us on 28 March 2012. Please sign our petition to show the councillors who run Centro that your vote will really count.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on March 23, 2012