Reinstating the bus service for EWS pupils living in Stony Stratford

We are a group of parents advocating for 31 children (including 3 aged 16 and over) who are affected by the absence of public transport to attend secondary school. This data has been provided by Elizabeth Woodville School (EWS). We are seeking a sustainable transport solution for Stony Stratford pupils across the county border in Deanshanger. Whilst we have organised a temporary carpool, organising our own transport every week is an ongoing challenge. Some unintended consequences include loss of income, disruption to children and families transitioning to secondary school, local congestion and air pollution.  

For context, one reason some of us chose EWS was Arriva’s 89 (MK Central-EWS, via Stony) public bus service (which is still advertised), scheduled around the school day and at an annual cost of approximately £400 a year. On the first day of term, at the bus stop, we discovered that the service had been cancelled. The bus was live on the app and then did not arrive. 

Parents applied to Milton Keynes City Council for Non-Entitled School Travel Assistance on the bus contracted for EWS children living in nearer Old Stratford. There is an annual charge of £1000. The school also explored hiring a 16-seater minibus and we are motivated to organise this but, with no subsidies available for this either, a cost to parents of £13.75 per day made this option unviable.     

On 28th October, EWS confirmed that the Stagecoach X91 public bus service (MK Central - Towcester) will re-route from Stony Stratford at 07:55am and the school would be willing to create a place for the students to wait before school. However, a return service to Stony will not collect from EWS until 16:55pm, which is nearly 2 hours after the end of the school day. An earlier X91 service collects from nearby the school around 15:28pm but only runs to Old Stratford before returning to the MK Central via the A5. It is too far for children to walk home unsupervised from Old Stratford, and travelling via CMK would extend their school day significantly and is unviable.

Parents were also advised that the X91 was intended to replace Arriva’s cancelled 89 service, therefore we made the request that the 15:28pm return journey from EWS could be re-routed to Stony Stratford. In response, we were advised that Stagecoach had informed the school it will not change because “the route is not viable”. Indeed, you were contacted previously by a parent (Ref: SPEAKE) and you advised in your response dated 28/10/24, that a complaint could be made to MK council. This was taken forward (Ref: CU659708541) and the response was “the changes to services are down to commercial decisions made by operators. MKCC has raised the concerns with operators and West Northants Council but cannot take any further action in this matter”.

We would argue that the very creation of the cancelled 89 bus service and the more recent morning re-routing of the X91 suggests willingness towards solving our cross-border transport problem. We await your response, so that we can work together to find a positive solution to this issue. 

Yours sincerely, 

Rob Couch (corresponding co-signer) & Ella Sherlock (parents of Freya Sherlock, 7G)

Erica Speake