Green Bus Services 2017/2018

[tiredmama]

Had this email today, I thought it may be helpful for those whose children have scored high enough to be sure of a place and planning to use the service?

Dear all

We are pleased to say that our bus routes for 2017/18 will be published on our website at 1300 tomorrow.

We are grateful to the 100 or so customers who responded to our request for suggestions on how our routes should develop. Although our routes are planned on the basis of where pupils actually live, we have incorporated many of the suggestions we received into our final routes.

Flash Sale

The first six passes for each service will be available in a flash sale from 1300 tomorrow, Friday 17 February 2017 at a price of £650. Click here to view the flash sale website. Once the first six passes for each route are sold, the next passes will be available from Wednesday 1 March 2017.

Full pricing information will be sent to you in an email tomorrow. For comparison purposes, the cheapest full passes will be priced at £720 in March and April 2017; £770 in May, June and July 2017; and £810 from August 2017 onwards.

In 2017/18 we will be offering only full, standard annual passes: these passes are used primarily by pupils who travel both ways on the bus most days. One-way and short journey passes will no longer be offered: instead, customers requiring such a pass will need a Swift PAYG card.

New Routes

Please check the new routes carefully, because many of them have changed significantly. The best plan is to enter your postcode and to select the appropriate school on our website here: this will show you which is the nearest bus to your home.

School catchment areas change noticeably every year: this year, we have taken the opportunity to catch up with those changes which have occurred over the last three years. The result is that many more families now have a bus service running nearer to their homes.

Inevitably, there will be a small number of families for whom our changes will be unhelpful, and we are sorry for the inconvenience that that will cause. It is impossible to design a set of bus routes which pleases everyone: our overriding principle is to serve as many people as we can.

Kind regards

[imranb]

Thank you very much for this information.

Can parents of DCs from Shirley/Solihull/Hall Green going to CHB/CHG please advice what would be the monetary saving if we choose Bus 76 over Green Bus?
If someone can point me to a link to see how much a pass for Bus 76 would cost, that would be appreciated.

[mum1115]

imranb - my son is on the 76 and his bus pass is £27.50 per month and he can use it on any bus so it's great if he goes to a sports fixture after school. My son didn't bother with the green bus for his 1st year, he preferred the flexibility of the west midlands travel bus pass. There are plenty kids on which ever route from solihull you take. The 37 to acocks green and then the 11 to school is also an option and plenty of kids on that service too.

[imranb]

imranb - my son is on the 76 and his bus pass is £27.50 per month and he can use it on any bus so it's great if he goes to a sports fixture after school. My son didn't bother with the green bus for his 1st year, he preferred the flexibility of the west midlands travel bus pass. There are plenty kids on which ever route from solihull you take. The 37 to acocks green and then the 11 to school is also an option and plenty of kids on that service too.

Many thanks

[quasimodo]

Parents should be aware if they are not already aware school bus routes can and do change and these changes can have a real impact.Services can and do stop to schools as they have done in the past when they are no longer commercial and parents must also have alternatives in mind if this was to happen.I have noticed the 873 service which currently runs from Walsall via Tamebridge then to Hampstead to KE Camp Hill boys and girls will for 2017/18 begin at Hampstead and no longer pick up in Tamebridge or Walsall. The alternative may be to use the public bus service which for some if they are close to the A34 may be much quicker and change buses in Birmingham city centre. Parents will decide how appropriate this is taking into account their children's ages.

[UmSusu]

Second that quasi,
I put KEA down as we have been on the bus route for the last few years - I thought it will be an early start but at least he will be picked up from the end of the road. Now it seems they have changed the bus route for next year and we would have to get him to a bus stop further away in the morning.

I am thinking of dropping him off at the train station instead, which be a pain for me but at least he can leave home around an hour (!) later. Does anyone know if there are many at KEA using the train and how safe it is to walk from there to the school?

We don't have a place confirmed there yet obviously until we hear next week.

[um]

I have been keeping an eye on the KEA bus routes from my house too... it seems it still stops nearby but earlier - meaning a very early start and a longer journey.

KEA had a published 'safe walking route' from the train station when we last visited. I still think train then into an uber/taxi would work out cheaper than Green Bus though!

[tiredmama]

Another flash sale at 5pm today.

https://www.thegreenbus.co.uk/flashsale/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;