A fleet of new minibuses to get disabled children in Bristol to school and back will save the taxpayer millions. Currently taxis are used to get many children with special educational needs and disabilities to school, costing several thousands of pounds a day.
A fleet of 29 electric vehicles will be bought by Bristol City Council for home-to-school transport. The council has a legal duty to provide travel for some children, whose numbers have been increasing recently. The cost of providing this service, mostly through taxis, has also shot up.
The plan was approved by councillors on the children and young people policy committee on November 28, and is expected to cost £1.7 million initially, but then save £3.8 million over the next five years. Drivers will also be recruited to drive the vehicles to school and back each day.
Hannah Gillett, senior commissioning manager, said: “We’ve seen costs increase per mile significantly since 2021. The top five most expensive routes ranged from £70,300 up to £117,000 per school year.”
The most expensive route currently takes three passengers to school and back in the same vehicles, costing £307.50 for a 52-mile journey, which is made twice per day. Home-to-school transport costs the council much more on average than other major cities in England.
As well as saving money, the council hopes the new fleet will help towards its net zero climate goals and encourage the taxi trade to lower their costs, too. The vehicles could also be used for respite centres, social workers and “all sorts of different opportunities” to save on taxi fares.
Ms Gillett added: “We’ve got about 400 routes, so this is only going to be a small proportion initially. There’ll be an analysis done on where it’s best to swap those routes out. Obviously, the range of batteries we have to take into consideration with electric vehicles.”