School Bus problem in St Bees - action taken

It would appear that the school bus problems in St Bees which emerged yesterday have been resolved for now.

As I posted yesterday a number of students from St Bees who attend at West Lakes Academy were not picked up by the school bus that morning (the first day of the new term for them).

I received assurances yesterday that the issue was being dealt with and then the following message this morning from the Commissioning manager for the County Council school transport service:

"The “Fairladies” stop at St Bees had been missed yesterday morning due to a misunderstanding of route information between the Team and Stagecoach.  We had identified the stop as “Village Top” and this was not what Stagecoach understood.  The situation has now been rectified with pupils being dropped off at “Fairladies” last night and picked up this morning.  All parents who had contacted the team yesterday were telephoned back with an update by myself, or a member of my team. We have also liaised with" ... "West Lakes Academy.
 
We have, last night been advised by West Lakes Academy that a couple of parents are now unhappy with the use of a double-decker bus along the Outrigg road.  These concerns have been logged and passed onto Stagecoach.  In such instances, we do take the advice of the transport operators as to the suitability for routes and vehicles on the ground as it were.  We will monitor the situation and provide an update should this become necessary.
 
Please accept my apologies for the delay in coming back to your email more formally.  The phones and emails are exceptionally busy at the moment and are expected to be all week as we have staggered starts back to school across the county this week."

I immediately got back in touch with her to express my support for the parents who had raised concern about sending double decker buses up and down Outrigg, a road which has several huge traffic and road safety issues both for pedestrians and vehicles.

This point was taken on board and I received the following additional message at lunchtime today:

"The issue of the West Lakes Academy bus heading up Outrigg has just been resolved late this morning. Following discussion with Stagecoach they are changing their route from St Bees. The bus will now travel via the B5345 and Queens Drive between St Bees and the Academy, this will mean that the bus will pass Fairladies in both directions and will not need to travel up and down Outrigg road.  At least we no longer have a double decker bus adding to the issues on Outrigg Road."
 
Hopefully this will resolve the school bus issue but we will monitor the situation.

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