Peace of Mind for Parents
On April 26, wmsnt will commence the operation of its 214th home to school transport bus.
These vehicles driven by highly trained drivers, more than half of whom have achieved NVQ level 2 in Road Passenger Vehicle Training, operate throughout the region especially in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Sandwell.
Every day of the school year they provide transport to and from school whilst many also provide transport throughout the day taking children on day trips, swimming baths etc. It is estimated that at least 1500 children every day travel to school in the safest possible way on wmsnt buses.
Des Rogers, wmsnt Operations Manager, said that "the operation of these vehicles not only provides safe transport, and therefore peace of mind to parents, but also extra resources, vehicles and staff etc, that are then channelled into the Ring and Ride service thus providing many extra trips to adults with a variety of mobility problems".
There are also many local benefits such as those experienced in the Frankley area of Birmingham where another 20 jobs have been added to the 105 already based at the Arden Road depot.
Councillor Ian Cruise, one of the elected Councillors for the Longbridge ward, said: “I am very happy to see so many new secure jobs that had been introduced into the area that had been so deeply affected over the last few years especially as the jobs were providing such an important role within the greater Birmingham Area."
“In the summer months especially, these vehicles are used for the popular RingandGo service especially designed to provide local services for parents to take mobility impaired children and their siblings on days out to the local park, or other places of interest. But that is not all because at weekends and every day in the school holidays groups of Ring and Ride registered users can use the vehicles, for a small charge to cover overheads, to travel further afield e.g. to Weston, Blackpool, London and don't forget that this includes the services of a fully trained carer/driver and a fully accessible vehicle."
“Finally", said Des, “home to school contracts are a means to an end to provide better services throughout the West Midlands both for the schools and also Ring and Ride users." He hopes that all local councils will heed the Governments call for the Big Society and involve community transport operations such as wmsnt in providing more transport services in order to improve the quality of life to all West Midlands citizens.