Bucks bus services

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munisha
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 2:44 pm

Bucks bus services

Post by munisha »

Does anyone know of any private bus services similar to air Fenella that carry ooc children to bucks schools? In particular from Hillingdon or Ruislip areas.

Thank you.
scary mum
Posts: 8841
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Bucks bus services

Post by scary mum »

This sort of journey has been discussed many times and the advice is usually that the journey would be a nightmare. Which school did you think would suit your child best when you visited? Bucks is quite a large area. You could get to Wycombe by train from West Ruislip but then it would mean a bus or walking from there. People may have organised private mini buses and I'm sure they will answer if they have. Have you asked the school that you are interested in?
scary mum
munisha
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 2:44 pm

Re: Bucks bus services

Post by munisha »

We liked both becky high and Wycombe high and have a good train connections to them. The bus service is more for challoners high which we liked but don't have a good train service for. So really aimed more at that. I did enquire at the school but they didn't have any information.
roch65
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:41 pm

Re: Bucks bus services

Post by roch65 »

Hi,

We live in South Harrow and have looked at the journey to WHS for our DD, hopefully, to start in Sep2016. The Chiltern train from South Ruislip to High Wycombe takes 20 mins. There is a bus outside the station (can't remember the number) drops you right outside the school so all being well, you can be there for 8.30am. I did a dummy run a while back and it is do-able.

I've just found the bus info - bus numbers 31 and 48. The 31 drops you outside the station; the 48 on Castle Street which is 2 or 3 minutes walk from the station. The journey time according to the timetable is about 20 mins.
munisha
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 2:44 pm

Re: Bucks bus services

Post by munisha »

Thanks Roch65, that's very helpful. I had planned to do a dummy run of the journey but hadn't quite got around to it :)
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Bucks bus services

Post by Guest55 »

That was a lucky to make the journey from the station to WHS in that time!

Most times I've been near High Wycombe on a school day it has had traffic crawling up Marlow Hill. It only needs a minor accident, a problem on the M40, any event or frost for the town to become grid-locked. It does not help that there are three Secondary schools, a hospital and a couple of primary schools within less than a mile of each other.

WHS is advertising places for Year 7 as some children have already left owing to overlong journeys ...
BucksBornNBred
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Bucks bus services

Post by BucksBornNBred »

I would have to agree with G55 on this one, though not because of Marlow Hill, as I don't think many buses take that route. Most of the buses will stop at the bus station and then take the Desborough Ave route which is very slow. Walking from the train station might be a better alternative, if your DCs are happy to climb a long boring hill! An alternative would be to walk to the bus station and take your chance on whatever bus turns up first; not sure that the 31 or the 48 go to the school in the mornings, but the 800/850 or the parkandride services are the main ones.

Just for information, even though Marlow Hill is bumper to bumper at rush hour, it is actually moving quite quickly and isn't the nightmare it looks but, as G55 points out, it does become gridlocked if anything happens on the M40. On a normal day the gridlocks are nearer the centre of the town so you need local knowledge to get round them :-)

UPDATE: The 31 and 48 bus services do go via Desborough (saw them this morning) and by the looks of things get there from 8.30 - 8.40.
Last edited by BucksBornNBred on Fri Dec 11, 2015 10:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hyacinth
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2014 4:45 pm

Re: Bucks bus services

Post by Hyacinth »

I know you want the best for your child and that choosing schools is a stressful time so please don't take the following as criticism - it certainly isn't intended that way.

Our DS started at JHGS (opposite WHS) this September. We live two miles away. I drive him there in the mornings as it is on my way to work and one family member or another will pick him up after school. Whilst DS is having a great time and enjoying school, we are all utterly exhausted. As a family, we seem to barely have time to eat together in the evenings after all the homework is done.

The thought of any child having a long journey on top of that every day actually makes me feel a bit weepy. Perhaps it's the exhaustion :cry:
BucksBornNBred
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Bucks bus services

Post by BucksBornNBred »

Wycombe is working on a new route through the town, scheduled to start next year and run for 2 years. That may impact journey times whilst the work is ongoing, but also who knows how the traffic will work when it is complete.
Tolstoy
Posts: 2755
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:25 pm

Re: Bucks bus services

Post by Tolstoy »

I have to agree with Hyacinth but I suspect it falls on deaf ears. Having experienced both a Grammar school and an Upper school I actually prefer the Upper my DC are attending ( same DC in one case). It is strict they are expected to do homework but my Y8 DC finds that easily manageable. My GCSE DC gets a lot obviously but the DC are able to go to after school sessions to complete coursework, do revision and get general help. This is all possible because he can walk home from school. In fact if I pick him up ( 5 mins in the car) he arrives home from an after school revision session the same time as the Grammar school buses are dropping off. Makes getting those A grades he's after so much easier :)

In a nutshell there are some excellent Grammars out there but so are there other schools doing just as good a job without the additional travel implications. My youngest is insistent that he wants to try to go to our local Grammar school but I personally would be much happier if he went to our local Upper because he can walk. I know all schools are different and our experience of a Grammar may have been unique but I would want to have had a lot of unbiased personal reviews on any Grammar I wished my DC to attend if they were expected to undertake a long and possibly disruptive journey every day. This is why DC have left the schools as DP realise they are not the be all and end all and certainly not worth the stress involved in the travel.

Unfortunately despite all the advice given on this site only once their DC has started does the penny drop. Worse removing their DC means their DC now has start at a new school once induction activities have already taken place and friendship groups made, doable but not preferable. In addition they have inflicted this on some poor local DC who was denied a place at their local school initially because of the decision to take on a ridiculous journey with out considering their own DC's needs. :roll:

If your local school is not acceptable then the sensible thing to do is relocate.
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