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The Walking Bus Scheme

What is the Walking Bus
The benefits of a Walking Bus
Ideas to help you set up your Walking Bus
Guidelines for operating a Walking Bus
What about insurance?

Files to Download
  Checklist and Ready to go?
  Information for volunteers
  Volunteer application form
  Parental consent form

What is the Walking Bus?

The Walking Bus is a smart form of school transport. The Bus is made up of a group of children, walking with at least two volunteers eg, parents, midday supervisors or learning support assistants.

One volunteer acts as the 'driver', who leads the way and the other acts as the 'conductor' at the rear. The Walking Bus follows a set route, stopping at agreed pick-up points or 'bus stops' in the neighbourhood.

The benefits of a Walking Bus

Parents or guardians may save time and money by using this arrangement.
Children learn good road sense.
It provides a safer and environmentally friendly way for children to travel to school.
It encourages walking, which in turn reduces traffic and pollution near to school.
Children’s general fitness is improved through daily exercise.
It promotes social interaction and independence.

Ideas to help you set up your Walking Bus

Establish a working group

School support is essential for the successful operation of the Walking Bus. The scheme benefits from being organised by an enthusiastic parent, parent governor or PTA, as initially it can be time consuming.

Research – to establish a need

A proper survey is the foundation of a successful Walking Bus scheme. It will indicate where the best routes could be set up in relation to the available volunteers and passengers.

The route

Work out route(s) and journey time(s). These should be plotted on a map to help with the promotion of the scheme. Identify 'bus stops', but consider road surface, lighting and potential hazards. The route must be risk assessed by staff from the County Council or an approved Risk Assessor, who will walk the route with volunteers prior to the Bus starting.The Travel Choice and Access Team can supply maps to help identify suitable routes.

Staffing

Send out requests for potential Walking Bus volunteers as 'drivers' and 'conductors'
Volunteers agree contract with school
Ratio of adults to children – 1:4 for Key Stage 1, 1:8 for Key Stage 2
No volunteer should ever walk alone with a group of children
All volunteers have to be CRB checked by the school.

Funding

Purchase of reflective jackets – Leicestershire County Council can provide a starter pack of up to 15 free reflective jackets (12 child, 3 adult size)
Mobile phone(s) – essential means of communication
Incentives (stickers, vouchers, etc) – main sponsorship from local business, PTA etc.

Other considerations

Contracts for parents to sign to ensure commitment to the scheme
Start date – consider appropriate launch and media assistance from the County Council.

Guidelines for operating the Walking Bus

Pupils being escorted to school on a Walking Bus

The route to be used will already have been decided upon and a risk assessment carried out. This route must be adhered to at all times. If any part of the pathway cannot be used because of a temporary blockage eg, road works or parked vehicles, the adults will need to divert accordingly. If there are persistent problems with a route these should be reported, in the first instance to the school, and an alternative route agreed with and assessed by the County Council.
There must always be two adults present – one acting as ‘driver’, the other as ‘conductor’.
A daily register of everyone on the Bus should be maintained and carried at all times.
Where possible, the need to cross roads should be kept to a minimum and use should be made of formal crossing places.
Parents or guardians are responsible for their child’s safety on the way to and from the ‘bus stop’. ‘Drivers’ and ‘conductors’ must remain with the group on the authorised route. Both parties must take care when children join and leave the Bus.
Parents or guardians should emphasise that their children must listen to the ‘driver’ and ‘conductor’ and obey their instructions – in particular with regard to stopping and crossing.
The ‘driver’ will be in front leading the group with the ‘conductor’ following at the rear so that all children can be seen and kept in order. Additional volunteers should be spaced along the Bus.
The children must walk along the pavement away from the kerb in an orderly manner, and in pairs, where possible, allowing other pedestrians to pass.
Adults should not delegate responsibility to older children to look after younger children.
The children must carry their own equipment, lunch etc in a rucksack or suitable container.
Any issue regarding bad behaviour on the Bus should be referred to the Headteacher of the school.

What about insurance?

If you are setting up a Walking Bus and are concerned about insurance, check to see if your Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is a member of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations (NCPTA). NCPTA members who organise or run walking buses are covered by the Association’s public liability insurance of up to £10 million per incident and also have personal accident cover.

If your school has not got a PTA then the County Council will be able to cover volunteers for the scheme subject to the terms, conditions and exceptions of its public liability policy. All volunteers would be expected to have had the relevant training from the County Council Travel Choice and Access Team and have completed a Criminal Records Bureau check form.

Schools taking on volunteers should arrange a Criminal Records Bureau check as they would for new employees and the form will then be processed through the County Council’s Children and Young People's Services personnel.