School fares solution
Page 23
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Cheshire county council pays out £620,000 a year to parents in respect of more than 12,000 children who have to travel more than three mites to school from their homes. A recent survey has shown that £125,000 of this — approximately 20 per cent — never finds its way into the hands of passenger transport undertakings. SELNEC PTA claims the reason for this is that the children are often conveyed to school by other means and feels that payments should not be misdirected in this manner.
Discussions have therefore been taking place with a view to ensuring that all such expenses paid by CCC reach the passenger transport operators. An agreement has been made that from next September the council will issue to eligible scholars free travel passes which will enable them to journey between home and school and back on services provided by Crosville, Trent, the Chester and Warrington undertakings and the SELNEC and Merseyside PTAs.
Cheshire CC will in fact make one lump sum mid-term payment to Crosville which will act as the clearing house for the"poor.
An approach has been made to Lancashire County Council with a view to making similar arrangements and SELNEC and Merseyside PTAs are preparing to enter preliminary discussions on this although the situation in Lancashire is more complicated because of the large number of municipal operators. The school pass system is already in operation, however, in Manchester, Bolton, Bury and Stockport and it is hoped that the City of Salford will introduce it in September 1973.