Minister defends change to school bus charge times

About 1,000 journeys were made using the card between 17:00 and 18:00 GMT since September

A reduction in the amount of time Isle of Man students can travel for a reduced price on buses by an hour has been defended by the infrastructure minister.

On Monday Bus Vannin pre-paid Go School smart travel cards, which allow travel for 50p a journey, became valid until 17:00 rather than 18:00 GMT.

Tim Crookall said the service was for travel between schools and homes, but most journeys that were being made after 17:00 "were not from school pick up points".

But some MHKs raised concerns that after school extra-curricular activities were being "undermined" by the change, which sees students pay half the fare for tickets.

Michelle Haywood MHK told the House of Keys the change "just doesn't work" for students as it did not allow for after school sports, such as 90-minute football games.

Joney Faragher MHK asked if the move was "just a way to make money from working families via school kids".

She also suggested the shift did not fit in with aims to increasing use of the public transport network to support the transition to net-zero.

'School-related stops'

In response Crookall said the revised scheme was not "a money maker" but a move to return the service to its intended use which was to support students "to get from home to school and back again”.

He said of about 1,000 journeys that were taken by students using the card between 17:00 and 18:00 since start of the September term, the department had found the majority of students were not getting on at "school-related stops".

Crookall told the politicians the department was looking to make "best use" of the services.

"If too many are people riding the bus during peak hours, we have to put on extra services and that's not very green," he said.

But he said he appreciated young people had after school activities and as such some pupils were allowed to use the service, as it previously was, on Monday.

The department would continue to review the situation and work with the schools, he added.