Madras College school buses are making an extra nine-mile round trip every day to park up at Craigtoun Park rather than staying at the St Andrews school.
It is a 4.5 mile drive between the popular Fife green space and the campus.
The school buses are currently dropping kids off and nipping over to Craigtoun to park up for the day.
This situation will continue until the summer.
The extra mileage is a cause of concern for St Andrews business owner, Eric Milne.
The owner of Fisher & Donaldson said: “They are driving an extra eight to ten miles a day going to the new school, then right through the centre of town.
“This is an unnecessary increase of vehicles in the town.”
Ken Currie is the rector of Madras College.
He said: “The current bus contracts for our school are for drop-off and pick-up only.
“It doesn’t include standby/parking.”
School bus situation ‘isn’t ideal’
“This means that they have to park elsewhere, in this case at Craigtoun Park.
“We appreciate that this isn’t ideal and will be looking at this and local service provision when the contracts are renewed in time for August 2023.”
There are at least 17 buses which bring school pupils to and from Madras College.
There are two more for extracurricular activities.
If every bus is in use, that means each one is travelling 4.5 miles twice a day. That is nine miles a day five times a week.
And for 17 buses, that means 765 miles a week.
This creates the equivalent of 0.12 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per week according to this carbon emissions calculator.
According to statistics issued by the Scottish Government in September, the £55 million new Madras College which opened in August 2021 is already at 95% occupancy – just 72 pupils shy of its 1,450 limit.
St Andrews University has announced plans for a “world-leading” business school based at the former Madras College site on South Street.
Conversation