Frequently asked questions on school bus services

Got questions about your child's school service? We’ve got you covered.

Taking the bus to school

Search for your school on the travelling to school webpage. Scroll down until you find your local area and then click on your school.

Once you have gone to your school’s travel page click on ‘catch the bus to school’. You will then find a link to download the timetable.

To support more young people to use public transport, we've worked with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Greater Manchester Police to create travel training resources.

See Greater Manchester’s travel training resources for young people for an independent travel guide and training videos to help your child to use the bus, tram and train as well as how to buy and use tickets.

Reduced fares are in place for young people and there are tickets that can only be used on school buses. Bee Bus Hopper, 1-day, 7-day, 28-day tickets are accepted on all buses, including school buses.

To travel for reduced fares on the bus, students must have an igo card and show this to the driver.

For incidents on the bus and tram networks, you can report incidents quickly and discreetly to a live GMP call handler, from your smartphone, using TravelSafe LiveChat or by calling 101 – or 999 in an emergency.

TravelSafe LiveChat can now be used on the Bee Network app.

We want everyone to feel safe when they travel.

Your child could get removed from public transport and have their travel pass taken off them, if they:

shout or make too much noise,
vape or smoke,
play loud music or videos,
push past people or throwing things.

Children can get banned from travelling if they:

mess with the emergency door handle for no reason,
harass or intimidate other people,
damage vehicles or property,
hang onto moving buses and trams, which is extremely dangerous.

If your child causes any damage to buses, stops or shelters they could also be prosecuted and have to pay for any damage.

If a student has lost something when travelling on a Bee Network school bus then please get in touch with the our contact centre:

Online - using our contact form
By phone – 0161 244 1000
In person – at an Information and Ticket Office

A responsible guardian/adult will need to make the enquiry on behalf of children under 13.

How school services are run

Dedicated school bus services are planned and co-ordinated by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and run by commercial bus operators. Most of the services are funded by TfGM although some are funded by schools.

All school bus services operate as local bus services. This means that they are open for everyone to use. Most of the time services are not used by anyone other than students, but it is possible.

Most buses provided allow for both seated and standing passengers.

This means that on more popular services, some students may need to stand for part or all of their journey to ensure that we can provide space for students.

No. Buses will stop at all stops along the route.

There are some exceptions where buses run non-stop on certain sections of route, but these are shown clearly in the timetable.

Most students travel to school by walking, wheeling, scooting, cycling or using public transport. Setting up school services is difficult as we have limited drivers and buses.

Our priority is improving all public transport, which can then help students get to school.

If this is not enough, then we will consider creating a school service.

Routes can change depending on the number of students who are travelling to school from certain areas. This can change each year with new students starting and others leaving.

To make sure there are enough students on each service, buses may be combined to make sure there are enough students for each bus to run.

TfGM reviews school services throughout the year, especially during the autumn term to decide if we need to make changes.

Changes to services tend to be made by October half-term but can take place at any point in the year.

It's possible that routes may change again next year if the number of students using services are low, suitable alternative services are in place or if there has been a significant change in the location of students attending school.

TfGM’s funding predominantly comes from a levy on the 10 districts of Greater Manchester and ultimately from Council Tax.

Like all Local Authorities we have a limited budget, and this means that we don’t have the money to simply put on an extra bus.

To ensure that our network is financially sustainable, we're only able to run school buses where there are a lack of alternatives travel options and there is sufficient demand.

We look to provide places for everyone in the most cost-effective way.

Smaller buses cost less to run than larger buses, so we will try to provide buses which match the current demand for places.

This may mean some double deck vehicles have been replaced by single deck vehicles with some students needing to stand for part or all of their journey.

Services are subject to change.

There's no guarantee that a service running this year will also run next year.

Before deciding to attend a non-local school, consider how your child would get to school if the school bus was no longer running.

To make maximum use of our buses, we look to use the buses to run more than one journey.

This means that some students may be dropped off earlier in the morning, to allow the bus to run onto another school or will be picked up later in the afternoon, because the bus has run a journey preceding.

Most of our school bus services are in place to carry students who live more than two miles from school.

Two miles has been used as this is the minimum statutory distance before students may be eligible for free school travel (this increases to three miles for students aged 8 years and older).

As there will only be limited places for students who live closer than two miles to their school, local students are encouraged to walk, wheel, scoot or cycle to school. More information on travelling actively to school.