29 August 2008
The school bus service is operational again from Wednesday 3 September to coincide with the start of term. There is only one minor change from last year’s schedules – Service 334 to and from Grainville School will no longer serve the Bel Royal area, reducing the journey time by several minutes and providing an improved facility for pupils living in St John and St Lawrence. The new timetables are on the States website and will be published in summary form in the JEP on Saturday 30 August.
The first few weeks of the academic year, and until after-school activities commence, can be difficult, as exact demand for the services is not known. The Director of Transport for Transport and Technical Services (TTS), Caroline Anderson, said “As in previous years, I’d like to ask all parents, guardians and the students who are intending to use the school buses to please be patient over the first few weeks. It is impossible for Transport and Technical Services to predict demand on any service and it is almost inevitable that some overloading or scheduling problems may occur. Both TTS and Connex will work together to iron out any issues as quickly as possible.”
TTS and Connex have also slightly amended the timing of a scheduled service No 21 from Victoria Village to allow Beaulieu pupils to use the bus but still get to school on time. Beaulieu have brought their start time forward so, without this adjustment, pupils would not be able to catch this bus. Caroline Anderson added “I very much hope that bringing the 08:10 Route 21 service back to 08:05 will help Beaulieu pupils and not inconvenience the other passengers who use the service.”
Students, parents and guardians are advised to check the timetables very carefully. They are available on www.gov.je/schoolbus, published in the JEP on Saturday 30 August and in leaflet form from the schools, with advice sheets if required. The web-site also carries other associated documents, which are essential reading for those who take advantage of the school bus service.
During the 2007-8 academic year, in excess of 320,000 journeys were made on the 56 routes comprising the school bus network, averaging nearly 1,750 trips per day.
gov.je