Fife education bosses have been pressed by SNP councillors to address Dunfermline parents’ concerns about long school bus waiting times.
The councillors met education bosses to ask for a speedy solution after an earlier finish to the school day left some Queen Anne High School pupils waiting up to 40 minutes for their bus home.
As a result of alterations to the length of the school day, 13 school buses had to be changed.
But when pupils returned to school last month, almost 100 still faced a lengthy wait for transport home three days a week.
Dunfermline Central councillor Neale Hanvey said: “This was an unacceptable situation, particularly for the 86 pupils affected from Crossford, for whom there is simply no safe walking route to school.
“Thanks to the efforts of SNP councillors, senior education officers have made considerable efforts and worked constructively with us to find solutions.
“I am hopeful that we are now close to securing an outcome that provides safe pupil transport and enable the school to continue with its new timetable arrangements.”
A supervised study space has been provided for pupils as an interim arrangement but it is hoped that bus times can be realigned by the end of this month.
The SNP’s senior education spokeswoman Fay Sinclair added: “I am pleased officers have worked constructively with a number of operators to ensure all pupils who require it are offered safe transport to and from school.
“Unfortunately there were still some problems with three buses from Queen Anne when the new school timetable was introduced in August.
“Parents are rightly wondering why the change was allowed to go ahead without transport arrangements being in place.”
Head of education Derek Brown said Fife Council has been working to amend transport arrangements to reflect the school’s preferred model and to ensure that pupils’ journeys could be managed effectively when there is a change to end of the school day.
He said: “It has not been possible to put all of the new arrangements in place and we will continue to work closely with transportation companies to consider ways to amend the few specific bus routes that have not yet been adjusted.
“Despite this, the benefits of the new arrangements for our young people are clear and it was felt important to progress these timetable changes.
“To support this the school has well developed plans to provide activities and appropriate supervision for those pupils who will need to wait for a short period of time until their specific transport arrives, on some afternoons.”
