North-east councils urged to introduce yellow school buses

A NORTH-EAST MSP has urged the region’s local authorities to introduce US-style yellow school buses to improve safety and cut the number of pupils getting lifts from parents.

Conservative MSP Nanette Milne has called on Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils to adopt the system for north-east primary schools after she met the Yellow School Bus Commission.

It comes after researchers at Aberdeen University found the buses could not only improve safety for children but would also create hundreds of jobs and provide around £50million of benefits for parents and road users across the UK.

The university’s Centre for Transport Research found 10million unnecessary car journeys could be cut if fleets of the yellow buses were introduced across the country.

The Yellow School Bus Commission, which is led by former home secretary David Blunkett, presented the university’s findings to Holyrood earlier this month.

Dr Milne, who is Tory environment spokeswoman, said: “I believe that the introduction of a yellow school bus system in Scotland would bring a number of benefits for local authorities across the north-east.

“This is an opportunity for Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils to have a new and safer way of providing school transport. There are potential road safety advantages from having yellow school buses, particularly in urban areas. It would also mean fewer pupils would have to get lifts from parents who would ordinarily drive their children to school and cutting congestion and carbon emissions.”