North-east authorities ran fleets of school buses for only a handful of pupils last week.
But Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils did so to avoid leaving youngsters in the cold as staff worked out which students were attending school and say transport operations will be “scaled back” this week.
The children of key workers and those from vulnerable families – around 400 in Aberdeenshire – were allowed to go back to class last week, while most returned to online lessons yesterday.
A number of north-east bus drivers told The P&J of concerns they were being “forced to do daily runs” when all are being encouraged to stay at home and cut down on non-essential travel.
“With the weather being atrocious last week and the climate crisis this decision comes across as indefensible, meaning hundreds of unnecessary journeys in dangerous conditions for no good reason,” one said.
But both councils were quick to dismiss claims that all school bus runs were being undertaken as normal, pointing to the detailed work needed before changes could be implemented.
Larger vehicles have been drafted in to ensure safe distancing for those using school transport.
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: “With all of our schools remaining open to children of key workers and vulnerable children, we have been carefully determining the necessary transport requirements.
“Until that process was completed it remained essential we continued to provide transport on many of our routes, particularly given the wintry weather conditions.”
A city colleague added: “While there have been some initial isolated instances where vehicle allocation has been more than required, our transport team has worked – and continues to work – closely with schools to ensure only required transport operates and, as we refine our needs, we have cancelled all unnecessary services.”
