“It is not only school buses which are to be axed but ordinary fare paying buses. Many of the so-called school buses are just extra buses of ordinary fare buses.”

“Why have school buses anyway.Never had them when I was at school, we got the train or pulic busses and walked and later used bicycles. School buses add to congestion cause damage to pavements and in my area block narrow roads making it impossible for residents to uas the roads at school start and finish times.”

“Well, unless they provide faith schools next to each secular school, then they are denying kids of faiths access to faith schools if they can't get there. Best thing to do is just do away with faith schools - the just encourage discrimination.”

“With regard to the previous comment, the provision of bus transport to religious schools is not mandatory but discretionary. The Council is concerned about spending £750 per student who travels on the school buses but it spends exactly the same amount on transporting pupils to and from St Bede's School in Redhill. Some 400 pupils travel free on the contract coaches to that school each day - the cost to the County Council is over £350000 per year - yet why is the Council not considering the cost of the contract coaches as part of this review. is this discrimination on religious grounds?”

“Well, as long as the council doesn't go around prosecuting parents for kids that can't get to school, or trying to force public institutions to introduce environmental policies. And if kids can't get to a religious denomination school of their choice due to no transport, then parent can take the council to court. They should make the people who make these decisions take the bus to and from work as a punishment!”

“The removal of these bus services both school and farepaying will put more cars onto the roads. Here at Salfords the A23 northbound is usually at a standstill in the morning rush hour. County's plans to stop school buses is going to put extra cars onto the roads at peak travel time with more pollution. Children cycling may not be a realistic answer as our County Council maintained roads are to rough to be used safely. Furthermore if pupils from rival schools were to mingle in the morning at Redhill Bus Station having used regular bus services, then one can imagine the outcome and who sorts this out. (try visiting Horley railway station when the local secondary school pupils are on the platform - uniformed police and 3+ school staff are to be seen.)

Well done Surrey but I accept the Government is very partisan in how it awards money to County Councils. If we had a Labour MP then County's coffers would be overflowing.
Finally it would be interesting to know the size of any shortfall in County's pension fund and how they are filling it from our rates? According to the Daily Telegraph
Surrey used surplusses from its pension fund to subsidise the Community Charge aka the Poll Tax some years ago.”

“From the BBC today

Needless bureaucracy is costing councils in England £4.5bn a year - money that could be spent on vital local services, according to a report.

The Local Government Association said there should be "a bonfire of red tape" to free up taxpayers' money.

It said increased running costs and staff numbers in recent years had left every household in England paying at least £11 more than necessary.”

“"That's £750 a year in subsidy to transport each child to school."

But it costs more to run a car for a year !”

“We are already left with no public transport after 6.30 in the evening and no buses at all on a Sunday yet people using the 430/435 service out of merstham have the luxury of a bus every 15 mins. Without public transport any of our teenagers wishing to go out in the evening have no option but to have someone collect them in a car, surely this contradicts any of the environmental polices we are always being preached about. If the service is cut completely from St John's meadvale that will not only have a detrimental effect on teenagers learning to have some independance but many other residents who dont drive and that is there only means of transport to town. Surrey County Council need to stop wasting our money on investments none of us even knew about and looking at improving services that matter. Yet again an example of government gone mad.”

“Are the residents that complained about empty buses the ones that have cars (usually parked on pavements) which the council could ticket for illegally parking and make some money or is the council doing its usual and blaming someone else for its bad management of funds by investing overseas and not in this country. If the council really wants to save money why does it waste so much planting flowers in tubs around the railings at the edges of roads. Surely if more buses are removed more cars will be forced onto the roads as parents will have to take their children to school in cars which is what the government is against. I know some children could walk to school but in some cases it is not possible - more and more schools are being oversubscribed due to the surrey county council ruling on admissions where children living near to a school lose out to children living further away as they have a sibling at the school (siblings take priority over proximity) - so even if a parent moves areas they can keep their first child in the original school and any subsequent siblings (if the older child is still at that school) get a place even if another child lives closer. Come on surrey county council sort out your policies and don't make residents lose out just because you can't manage your accounts.”