This week, readers have written to us about their problems with school buses in the county:

School buses are all empty

As I drove from Prestwood to Chesham today, just as I was driving up White Hill, the 806 bus from Chesham Grammar School to Prestwood was coming down the hill, with many, many spare seats. This compounded my existing frustration.

Our son Matthew was at a school that had no sixth form, so he applied to four different schools, unsure which would accept him, and whether he would get the grades for the grammar school. Imagine our delight on results day, 24 August, when he achieved what he needed to attend Chesham Grammar School. We applied for a place on the school bus the next morning.

Meanwhile, my friend living in Surrey had a similar experience, and by the end of the week she knew her daughter had a place on the bus. We heard nothing.

During the first week of term we phoned school transport to be told that since we didn’t apply *before* we knew what school Matthew was attending, the earliest they will look at the application is October 18, and meantime we must make our own arrangements.

We are not looking for a free bus place - we are fully aware we need to pay for our place, and are willing to pay from day 1.

However, BCC would rather have empty places on the bus, and bump up council tax, than take money for a service that they have in abundance. This makes no business sense.

As well as the economic loss to BCC, the damage to the local environment of having parents making unnecessary car journeys is surely something we all want to avoid. Congestion around the school adds to safety hazards around the school.

I’d be interested to hear if other readers in Bucks have experienced the same problem, and wonder just how many unnecessary vehicles are on the road and how many parents are having to take time off work.

Bridget Appleby, Prestwood

Another council travel farce

School, college and university students are some of the most regular customers on buses.

Most start the academic year in September and finish in July. Many hold academic year bus passes.

It would be helpful to parents if bus companies could decide their bus times before the academic year starts.

My son was not able to continue in 6th form at The Amersham School as they were unable to offer Physics and Further Maths at A-Level and he now has a place at Sir William Borlase’s in Marlow.

He has bought an academic year Arriva Wycombe + pass (£430) but from September 25, Arriva have a new timetable for ‘Route 1’ and Carousel and Arriva 1 buses will no longer from that date accept each other’s passengers where they hold an academic year pass (as the Chesham to High Wycombe route 1 was previously shared between the 2 companies).

Carousel have a new timetable out for route 1 on October 29!

We live in Winchmore Hill and my daughter has to take a taxi to and from Beaconsfield High (a catchment school when she was 11), where she is in upper 6th, as the council removed the school bus when she became 16 and started sixth form in 2016.

We were also told that there would be no space on the school bus to the Amersham School if my son moved to sixth form this September (though the minibus that arrives in Winchmore Hill has many spaces and the driver says it is never full).

Clearly it is not easy for working parents but the bus companies could help by not changing times or reducing the service (as in the case of Route 1) during the school year!

Chris Smith, Winchmore Hill