Kennington to Matthew Arnold School Bus

The first bus has been filled! We're now taking deposits for the second bus. If you'd like to reserve a place, please make a £250 payment (per child) to this fundraiser. Should the fundraiser not reach its target, your money will be refunded. Please use an email address that we can contact you on - this will be shared with the Oxford Bus Company and the Kennington Bus community team.

For many years the children of Kennington have attended Matthew Arnold school in Botley and this remains the catchment area school for the village.

In 2015, changes to Oxfordshire County Council's home to school transport rules meant that home to school transport for the village's children was no longer provided.

Following discussions with parents, Oxford Bus Company stepped in and introduced special service 35A between Kennington and Matthew Arnold School, using vehicle and driver resources that could be deployed elsewhere on their network for the remainder of the day. This service was used by around 180 children each day and was very popular with the community.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused great financial hardship for Oxford Bus Company, with a significant drop in passenger numbers which is expected to continue for some time into the future. As a result the company expects to have to reduce the number of vehicles it operates, meaning it will no longer have the ability to use the vehicles from the 35A service elsewhere on its network during the day.

In addition, social distancing rules on public transport mean that the service will not be able to continue to be operated as a public bus service for the 2020/21 academic year and instead would need to be converted to a private home to school service.

Both of these developments increased the cost of providing the service and therefore Oxford Bus Company have had to introduce substantial price increases for the 2020/21 academic year.

The community recognises that, particularly at the current time these increases may not be palatable for all families and therefore we are raising money to:

- Ensure the bus continues to run for the 2020/21 academic year and beyond, and that students can use it to return to school. If we get enough commitment from the community in the form of ticket purchases and / or donations, the service will continue.
- Build up a fund from the community to help those in need continue to access the service

Passes for the service for the 2020/21 academic year, which include free travel on all Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel services across CityZone, are priced as follows:

£700 per annum for the first child
£600 for each subsequent child in the same household

Children who qualify for free school meals will be eligible for a £100 discount on the above prices.

Passes can be purchased in one go, or in three separate instalments. Instalment prices are as follows:

September to December: £233.33 for first child, £200.00 for second and subsequent children
January to Easter: £175.00 for first child, £150.00 for second and subsequent children
Easter to end of August: £291.67 for first child, £250.00 for second and subsequent children

Please note that the new service will not be open to the general public and therefore without this pass children will not be able to use the new home to school service.

Tickets can be purchased online at Oxford Bus Tickets website, and all proceeds received there will be added to this GoFundMe campaign.