Sheffield bus cuts: Mother's fury as bus route taking son to school is set to be axed

Jayne Grayson’s son will now have to take a bus into the city centre, which will take over an hour, before he either walks or catches another bus to school.

She said: “I’m just furious and we only have six weeks to sort this.

“My son is 16 so he can suck it up and walk up from town but there are little kids of 11 who will get the bus to town…and let’s face it, Sheffield city centre isn’t great at the moment.”

Mrs Grayson’s son could now have to get the 135 bus route into Sheffield city centre, which starts north of Grenoside and takes over an hour to get into the city and will drop off children heading to Notre Dame around the rail station.

The cancelled route to Notre Dame is run by First buses, with no other operators offering the same service.

Mrs Grayson said: “I blame First for this. If you live along the 120 route you’re laughing because there’s a bus every five minutes but for us who don’t, it’s an hour to town.”

She has called on South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, and her local MP, Miriam Cates, to do something about it.

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On Monday (July 25), Mayor Coppard and local leaders agreed to using budget reserves to protect school buses at risk from cuts, as the region is set to lose a third of it’s services in the coming months.

The agreement included £5.1 million to protect school buses over the next two years, though it is not yet certain whether the school bus route used by Mrs Grayson’s son will be among those saved.

Notre Dame High School has released a statement saying it was “particularly disappointing” to hear the news of the axed bus service before the summer break, but they welcomed “the support and reassurance that has been shared by Oliver Coppard”.

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The school said almost 600 students rely on services which are being cut, and said the journeys into the city centre students will now have to make “raises concerns about safety, attendance and punctuality for young people who have faced so much disruption to their education and development in recent years”.

In a letter sent out to Notre Dame parents, The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority said: “Some parents and pupils will have concerns about home to school transport for next academic year. If they have concerns or want further information, they can contact Travel South Yorkshire using various touch points.

“School bus information for September 2022 will be available for parents and pupils at https://travelsouthyorkshire.com/en-GB/LandingPage/school-buses as soon as these have been finalised with operators. This is likely to be late July and early August but will be updated regularly.”

Nigel Eggleton, Managing Director at First South Yorkshire said: “In the spirit of transparency and partnership working, we have been consulting with SYMCA on all proposals that may affect commercially operated services, contracts and school tenders across South Yorkshire.”