Campaigners call for school-run parents to be allowed to use bus lanes

Busy British parents could save hours on the school run every term if a new proposal to allow them into bus lanes is rolled out.
Bus lane.Bus lane.
Bus lane.

Motoring experts at LeaseCar.uk have launched a campaign to allow mums and dads to skip the morning rush hour and bypass queueing traffic by using bus lanes, alongside taxis and motorcycles.

Families who must promptly arrive at school before work often get held up on congested British roads and need help to avoid lateness.

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Allowing parents to make use of quiet bus lanes would save them valuable time and help sleep deprived pupils cope with annually increasing educational pressure.

A quicker journey to school should mean children have more time at home to spend on homework and extracurricular activities, with the family and resting.

The average distance children aged 11 to 16 live from their school is over three miles and less than 40% can travel on foot, with nearly half of primary school pupils also having to rely on petrol power to get to the front gates every morning (DfT).

Popular schools’ catchment areas continue to expand despite unreliable school buses and public transport, but there are also more than 15 million British cars ferrying commuters to work on a daily basis (RAC).

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Added to the variety of other personal, public and business traffic on the neglected UK road network, it is no surprise that rush hour tailbacks are caused.

But the suggestion to ease congestion on the school run would be as cheap and easy as installing a few signs on the side of the road permitting parents to use the red lane.

Taxis, motorcycles and bicycles have an existing invitation to use bus lanes in many locations, so adding families on the school run to the list should be simple.

Gareth Roberts of LeaseCar.uk, who have come up with the suggestion, said: “Busy mums and dads just don’t have time to be sat in traffic on the way to school.

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“Picture the scene: your children are arguing, have got breakfast everywhere and forgotten their P.E., so now you’re stuck in traffic and running late.

“The last thing you should then have to do is sit in a jam for half an hour, inching between sets of lights, while an empty taxi or motorcycle sails by.

“It poses an obvious question for local authorities, if getting kids to school on time is a priority: why aren’t parents on the school run allowed in bus lanes too?

“The red paint on the road should part traffic like the red sea for parents and allow children to get their education without early morning stress.

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“Many pupils don’t have the luxury of living a walkable distance around the corner from school and public transport is too unreliable for many.

“So, something like opening bus lanes to parents on the school run must be done, to stop some children being consistently delayed and therefore disadvantaged.”