School Transport Survey 2004

2004 School Transport Survey


Report Contents

Introduction / 3
Key Points / 3
Findings
The current service / 4
Children’s happiness / 4
Complaint / 5
Service safety / 6
Finding out about free or concessionary transport / 6
Applying for free or concessionary transport / 7
Behaviour policy / 7
Appendices
Appendix A: Results Tables / 10
Appendix B: Survey Methodology / 18

Technical Note

Where percentages do not sum to 100, this may be due to multiple responses, the exclusion of missing values. A hyphen (-) denotes a figure of zero.

Where frequencies do not sum to reported base this may be due to multiple responses or the exclusion of missing values.

Using a database provided by Cumbria Information Systems a sample of parents or guardians of children using the school transport service were randomly selected and sent a self-completion questionnaire. Although the intention was to compare the views of different categories or 'sub groups' of users, for example, those who receive free school transport with those in receipt of concessionary fares no quotas were set. It was believed a truly random sampling procedure would yield the correct proportions of sub groups in the final sample.

Introduction

The County Council is keen to ensure that school transport offers the best service possible within the available budget for children and their families. One way we can do this is by listening to what parents (or carers) of children who use the school transport service think about it.

This survey follows a similar one in 2002. Many of the original questions have been repeated to allow measurement of opinion change over time. Where relevant this briefing reports 2002 results alongside 2004 results to allow comparison.

This briefing, based on 930 returned questionnaires (37% response rate), summarises these views.

Key Points

  • 87 percent of parents are satisfied or very satisfied with the current service, a 10 percent increase since 2002.
  • Unsuccessful applicants also now indicate higher levels of satisfaction with how their application was processed than they did in 2002. The satisfaction rate has increased by 12 percent.
  • Punctuality was the most highly rated aspect of the service. The behaviour of other children on the bus or taxi was rated worst.
  • 82 percent of parents said their child(ren) are either very happy or happy going to and from school on the bus or in a taxi, a 9 percent increase since 2002.
  • When a parent complains about school transport most go directly to the bus/taxi operator or the school. Few go directly to the Council. The majority of respondents have not had cause to complain.
  • Very few parents (8 percent) had any difficulty in obtaining information about school transport. Schools and County Council information packs play the major role in informing parents about free and concessionary school transport, over 90 percent received information from either or both of these sources.
  • The proportion of parents contacting the County Council School Transport team for information has remained steady since 2002 at around 20 percent.
  • 13 of the 49 (27 percent) parents who have had an application for free or concessionary transport turned down did not understand why they had been unsuccessful. This is slightly higher than in 2002.
  • Satisfaction with the application process for free or concessionary transport is high and has increased by 10 percent since 2002 to 91 percent.

The survey results show that satisfaction with the service has improved across almost all areas considered. In the small number of cases where people are dissatisfied their reasons are similar to those in 2002.

1.Satisfaction with the current service

  • Parents were asked a series of eight questions relating to how they rated different aspects of school transport. Parents were asked to indicate whether they thought each aspect was “good”, “very good”, “poor”,” neither/nor”, “very poor” and “don’t know”. Parents were also asked to rate the service overall on the same scale.
  • Encouragingly, overall satisfaction with the service has risen by 11 percent since 2002. Now just under 90 percent of parents report themselves satisfied or very satisfied with the service. The number expressing some level of dissatisfaction has also dropped from 10 percent to 6 percent.
  • Unfortunately direct comparison with 2002 data on the 8 aspects is not possible due to the inclusion of the “neither/nor” answer category that was not present in 2002. However, scores in 2004 are consistent with those from 2002.
  • Across the eight service aspects the highest level of satisfaction was with the punctuality of the bus or taxi, both in the morning and afternoon. In both cases approximately 85 percent of parents thought punctuality was either “good” or “very good”
  • Generally speaking the cleanliness of the transport provided is considered good (42 percent) or very good (24 percent). 76 percent felt that the standard of driving was either good or very good and a similarly high number felt the drivers attitude was good or very good (69 percent). Operator’s attitudes to safety and the availability of seats generated similarly positive feedback.
  • Following the pattern from 2002 the aspect of the service with the lowest satisfaction rating was the behaviour of other children. Only 53 percent of parents were satisfied.
  • Overall, satisfaction with the service is high and has improved significantly since 2002.

2.How happy are children with the current service?

  • In this section of the questionnaire respondents were asked to discuss the questions with their child(ren) before answering. Children were asked to express how happy they were using the school transport service. Answer options were “very happy”, “happy”, “neither happy nor unhappy”, “unhappy”, “very unhappy” and “don’t know”.
  • In the main, children would appear to be happy using the bus or taxi services provided, 82 percent indicating that they are happy or very happy. This is a 10 percent increase on 2002. Only 8 percent reported that they were either unhappy or very unhappy.
  • The most common reasons for children being unhappy relate to the behaviour of other children using the transport (52 percent) or the attitude of the driver (38 percent). These figures have not changed significantly since 2002.
  • Respondents were given opportunity to indicate other causes of unhappiness. Comments tend to focus on the quality of driving, length or journey, drop off/pick up points and behaviour. There tends to be more than one reason if a child is unhappy using school transport.

3.Complaints about the service

  • Respondents were asked about their experiences of making complaints about the transport service. 26 percent reported that they had complained about the service. This is a 10 percent drop in complaints since 2002.
  • When people do complain they typically do so direct to the school (67 percent) or the operator (49 percent). Very few respondents approached their county councillor with the complaint. Where complaints are directed has remained consistent since 2002.
  • Respondents had also complained to several other bodies. These included:
  • Parents
  • The Police
  • MP
  • School governors
  • The most frequent subjects of complaints are punctuality, attitude of the driver and the behaviour of other children. Responses in the “other” category were focused on a number of main issues:
  • Poor punctuality or non-arrival of buses
  • Overcrowding and lack of seating
  • Fears over safety of children due to poor driving
  • Problems with drop off/pick up points
  • Provision in bad weather
  • Inadequate seat belts
  • “Illogical” catchment boundaries
  • When making complaints parents contact different places for different issues. Complaints about child behaviour and bullying are most commonly directed towards the school. Those complaining about the attitude of the bus driver commonly contact the operator directly as well as the school.
  • In a departure from the 2002 survey satisfaction with complaint handling was covered by several new questions. Respondents were asked to indicate what type of response they got to their complaint. Most commonly respondents received a verbal response (78 percent) however a sizeable minority (15 percent) reported they received no response. Schools appear to be the main culprits in terms of not providing a response.
  • Around 70 percent received a response to the complaint within a week. Only a very small minority had not received a response within 2 weeks.
  • Satisfaction with the response to complaints was 47 percent; this is an 8 percent increase on 2002. Looking at levels of satisfaction with complaint handling dependent on whom the complaint was made to it would appear that schools provide the most satisfactory response to complaints (46 percent were happy or very happy with the response they received from the school). This is consistent with 2002.
  • If respondents were dissatisfied with the response to their complaint they were asked to explain why. The main reasons for dissatisfaction are summarised below:
  • Unhelpful or ambiguous response
  • “Buck passing” between school and operator/No-one willing to take responsibility
  • Complaint not taken seriously
  • No action or change as a result of complaint
  • While satisfaction with complaint handling has risen since 2002 still under half of complainants were satisfied with the response they received.

4.Service safety

  • Respondents were asked to comment whether or not they were aware of measures taken to improve the safety of children using school transport. The measures include:
  • Where appropriate, buses have to have safety belts fitted.
  • All buses and taxi have to have mobile communications.
  • All drivers have to be checked by the Criminal Records Bureau and the Social Services Department.
  • A total no smoking policy on school buses.
  • As in 2002 the highest awareness is of the safety belt rule (89 percent) and the no smoking policy (77 percent). Encouragingly 68 percent of parents are now aware that drivers have to undergo Criminal Records Bureau check; this is a 17 percent increase on 2002. However, the proportion aware that buses and taxis have to have mobile communications has remained low at around 40 percent.

5.Finding out about free and concessionary transport

  • A key element of the survey was to find out about parents’ experiences of dealing with the free and concessionary transport process.
  • From the responses given it would appear that in general parents find information about free and concessionary transport readily available. Only 8 percent reported having difficulty obtaining information.
  • Most commonly parents receive information about free and concessionary transport from their child’s school (53 percent) or from Cumbria County Council’s Primary/Secondary Education Information Pack (38 percent). Parents often got information from more than one source.
  • Again schools and information packs play the major role in informing parents that they should contact the County Council to apply for free and concessionary transport, 84 percent found out from these sources.
  • These figures show no significant change since 2002.
  • Despite only 8 percent of people finding information about free and concessionary transport difficult to obtain, 29 percent of respondents felt that the County Council should be doing more to inform parents of the possibility of their child receiving free or concessionary transport.
  • A number of potential ways to disseminate information to parents were suggested and parents asked to select those they thought most suitable. The highest level of support (56 percent) was for producing specific flyers/leaflets. There was also support for placing newspaper adverts (40 percent).
  • Respondents suggested several other potential methods of disseminating information:
  • Letter to all parents of school age children
  • Automatic letter to all year 11 children
  • Publish in school newsletter
  • Better information in primary schools
  • Include information in school application packs

6.Applying for free and concessionary transport

  • The County Council was keen to find out parents’ experiences of applying for free and concessionary transport. The Council aims to make the process as straight forward as possible.
  • Only 4 percent of respondents had had an application for free school transport refused. Of refused applicants 25 percent had not understood the reason given for the refusal. The vast majority of those refused understood why their application had been rejected. These figures are almost identical to 2002.
  • Only 2 percent of respondents had had an application for concessionary transport refused. Of respondents who had been refused, 16 percent (3 people) did not understand the explanation given for their rejection.
  • Those respondents who did not understand the explanation for their refusal were asked to indicate what had been unclear. In the main respondents complained about anomalies and inconsistency in provision or apparently arbitrary decisions. For example, why did one child receive free transport, when another in the same circumstances, did not? There were also several comments about the apparently arbitrary nature of catchment boundaries.
  • Overall satisfaction levels with the way the Council dealt with peoples’ applications were high. 91 percent rated themselves satisfied or very satisfied with the application process. This is an 11 percent increase since 2002.
  • While levels of dissatisfaction were higher if the respondent had had an application refused there has been a 11 percent increase, since 2002, in the number of refused applicants rating themselves satisfied with the way the council dealt with the application process.
  • The survey findings indicate a clear improvement in the way applications are dealt with by the county council.

7.Behaviour policy

  • Following concerns raised in the 2002 survey about poor behaviour on school transport the council is considering introducing a behaviour policy. As part of the 2004 survey parents were asked to comment on the idea of such a policy and indicate what they felt appropriate levels of sanction were.
  • The cornerstone of such a policy would be the ability to ban a child from using school transport for a set period of time. 96 percent of respondents supported this idea.
  • Parents were then asked to indicate what they felt was an appropriate level of sanction for particular types of behaviour. Full tabulations can be found in Appendix A but below are tables showing behaviour type and most ‘popular’ level of sanction.

Behaviour
(First time a child behaves this way) / Most popular sanction
Physical violence towards another child / Written warning
Verbal abuse towards another child / Written warning
Physical violence towards the driver / Banned for rest of school year
Verbal abuse towards the driver / Written warning
Smoking on the bus / Written warning
Minor vandalism (for example, graffiti) / Written warning
Major vandalism (for example, breaking a window or damaging the bus/taxi) / Banned for rest of school year
Not using safety belts if fitted / refusing to stay seated on the bus / Written warning
Not following reasonable requests from the driver / Written warning
Deliberately distracting the driver / Written warning
Behaviour
(If a child behaves this way repeatedly) / Most popular sanction
Physical violence towards another child / Banned for rest of school year
Verbal abuse towards another child / 1 week ban
Physical violence towards the driver / Banned for rest of school year
Verbal abuse towards the driver / Banned for rest of school year
Smoking on the bus / Banned for rest of school year
Minor vandalism (for example, graffiti) / Banned for rest of school year
Major vandalism (for example, breaking a window or damaging the bus/taxi) / Banned for rest of school year
Not using safety belts if fitted / refusing to stay seated on the bus / 1 week ban
Not following reasonable requests from the driver / 1 week ban
Deliberately distracting the driver / Banned for rest of school year
  • Judging by the very large number of comments this clearly an area where parents feel very strongly. The comments focus around several key areas:
  • A behaviour policy is a good idea that would need to be carefully implemented.
  • Important that when action is proposed due to a child’s behaviour all relevant parties are kept informed of the situation.
  • Need for some kind of “judgement panel” to ensure decisions are transparent and fair.
  • Consideration should be given to employing conductors/escorts. These people could aid control and also act as witnesses.
  • Transport behaviour policy should compliment existing school policies.
  • Ensuring the “culprit” is identified correctly is crucial.
  • Develop a “behaviour contract” that would be signed by parent, child and provider.
  • Be aware that some behaviour may be due to learning difficulties or behavioural problems.
  • Print “code of conduct” on the back of the bus pass.
  • Roles and responsibilities of different actors involved in enforcing the policy must be clearly defined (school, council or operator?).
  • Definitions of what constitutes bad behaviour must be clear, unambiguous and well publicised.
  • There is clearly a great deal of support for the idea but concern that any system must be fair and reasonable.

Appendix A: Results Tables

Table 1: Overall how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the current service? (2002-2004 comparison)

2002 / 2004 / Inc/Dec
Level of Satisfaction / N / % / N / % / %
Very Satisfied / 308 / 34 / 333 / 36 / +2
Satisfied / 389 / 43 / 471 / 51 / +8
Neither Satisfied or Dissatisfied / 121 / 13 / 58 / 6 / -7
Dissatisfied / 67 / 7 / 43 / 5 / -2
Very Dissatisfied / 25 / 3 / 14 / 2 / -1
Don’t Know / 3 / - / 3 / - / -
Base / 913 / 922

Table 2: How do you rate the following aspects of the service? (2004)

Aspect of Service / Base /

Percentage

Very Good / Good / Neither/
Nor / Poor / Very Poor / DK
Punctuality (morning) / 930 / 38 / 45 / 8 / 5 / 2 / 2
Punctuality (afternoon) / 925 / 41 / 46 / 7 / 4 / 1 / 2
Cleanliness of the transport / 923 / 24 / 42 / 17 / 8 / 3 / 7
Standard of Driving / 926 / 28 / 48 / 13 / 4 / 1 / 6
Attitude of the Driver / 926 / 30 / 39 / 17 / 5 / 4 / 5
Behaviour of other children on board / 926 / 14 / 39 / 23 / 13 / 6 / 6
Operator’s attitude to safety / 923 / 26 / 37 / 18 / 9 / 3 / 8
Availability of seats / 925 / 36 / 37 / 11 / 8 / 5 / 4

Table 3: How happy is your child using the bus or taxi to travel to and from school?