Parents brought their fight to save a long-standing local bus service to the doors of an Aberdeenshire primary school yesterday.
A campaign has been launched to save the subsidised travel routes to Ellon and Auchterellon primary school after Aberdeenshire Council announced they would be scrapped in August.
About 20 parents gathered outside Ellon Primary School yesterday to gather signatures for a petition.
The local authority said it was scrapping the services after a tendering process put the price of retaining them at about £60,000 – twice what it had been paying.
Parents fear that without the school buses the roads will become busier with motorists picking up and dropping off pupils themselves.
The petition has so far attracted more than 500 names.
Ellon councillor Isobel Davidson said: “I think parents were quite clear that they were going to fight hard to get the service. For primary school children it is quite a long walk to school.
“People haven’t had a lot of time to get themselves organised for a change in bus services.”
The council’s head of transportation, Ewan Wallace, said: “The current service that is utilised by pupils at Ellon and Auchterellon primary schools falls below the two-mile threshold for statutory provision.
“Although pupils pay a small fare the service does require a significant subsidy from within council budgets and therefore the decision was taken to no longer provide that support.
“We do appreciate that any changes to pupil transport services have an impact on the school community and have advised that the services will be withdrawn as of the end of the current school year.”