School Transport & Travel Guide
Welcome Five Star Service
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Welcome to our School Transport and Travel Guide for the 2024-2025 academic year. This is our third such guide, which builds on the success from 2023-2024.
All bookings for our school bus service must now be made via our online booking system, which can be accessed at rhsbath.vectare.co.uk. The website allows you to book travel 24/7 from anywhere in the world, until midnight the day before the bus is due to depart.
I would advise that you check your daughter’s closest bus stop online at rhsbath.vectare.co.uk.
Seven of our bus routes are operated inhouse, using our own fleet of minibuses, and one other is operated by high quality coach operators who have been audited and approved by GDST. All drivers are DBS checked and regular drivers are allocated where possible, to the same route every day.
This allows both you and your daughter to get to know the driver on your route.
All vehicles used on our bus routes have seat belts fitted to every seat and are maintained to a high standard.
Our school bus service offers direct services from Midsomer Norton, South Bath, Bishop Sutton, Bristol East, Malmsbury, Sutton Benger, Frome and Chippenham.
I very much hope that you are able to find a travel solution that works for your family. If you need any further assistance planning your daughter’s journey to school, or you would like to discuss travel options from areas not currently served by our school bus network, please contact us via the school transport website and we will be pleased to assist.
I would like to wish your daughter a safe, pleasant and successful academic year.
Kind regards,
Ellen Wilson Director of Finance & Operations
All of our vehicles are modern and are operated by the school or our approved operators. This means that they are all regularly maintained to the highest standard and gives you peace of mind that your daughter is travelling in safety.
We use dedicated drivers who work on the same route every day, where possible. These drivers get to know the pupils and are subject to an enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) check and full MiDAS / CPC training.
We offer a wide range of different tickets on our school bus service. From ad-hoc journey through to return passes for the entire academic year, you are able to book either all mornings, all afternoons or ad-hoc. You can book tickets at any time throughout the year, so it is simple to book an extra journey or arrange travel for a visiting friend.
This year we are offering 8 different routes that cover a large area surrounding the school. We want to offer you a travel solution that works for you and your daughter, so if you need any assistance working out the best route to school then please do get in touch.
It takes less than 30 seconds to find your nearest bus stop online, and booking takes only a few minutes, so all of the information you need to arrange travel for your daughter really is at your fingertips! To find your nearest stop or to book your daughter’s travel, visit rhsbath.vectare.co.uk
Route Map
Chippenham
Thickwood, Valley Road Colerne, St John’s Church
Box, Post O ice Ashley, Northey Arms
Pickwich, Dickens Avenue
Box, Primary School
Chippenham, Station
Chippenham, Hospital
Route Map
Norton
Malmesbury
School Shuttle
Prep School to Senior School
Senior School to Prep School
Fares
journey
Please note that AM only, PM only and return travel passes are paid on a termly basis via the booking website.
Terms & Conditions
1. This agreement is made between all school bus passengers, their parents and Royal High School Bath in order to provide safe, comfortable and civilised journeys for all passengers.
2. Royal High School minibus services are operated by school employees and can be severely affected, with unplanned staff absences.
3. Royal High School coach services are contracted to operate every school day.
4. Royal High School reserves the right to cancel / amend services at short notice, to provide a safe workable minibus operation.
5. Arrangements for pupils’ journeys to and from school are the responsibility of their parents. To assist with discharging this responsibility, Royal High School Bath provides a School Bus Service. Parents are responsible for their daughter at all times including both prior and after boarding and alighting.
6. Musical instruments, sports kit and other property are individual girl’s responsibility. The school cannot accept liability for their loss or damage. The school has the right not to carry equipment deemed to large for safe storage. Pupils should take care on every journey to make sure they do not leave any property on the bus.
7. Pupils may board or alight from the vehicle only at the designated stopping places and in an orderly way. They must never approach a moving vehicle. They must not attempt to join or leave the vehicle when, for example, it is brought to a halt at other places by traffic conditions.
8. Transport on the School Bus Service must be arranged in advance and is paid through the booking website. Should a pupil, on occasion, wish to bring a friend home, the host parent must book a Single trip journey, on behalf of the student. Bookings are to be made online via rhsbath. vectare.co.uk.
9. Morning bookings made on the morning of travel, will not be accepted. Bookings must be made the evening before travel.
10. Bookings entered by the driver using the ‘add passenger’ facility will be charged to parent ( does your system show when a driver has added a name?)
11. Bookings on the School Bus Service are non-refundable in the event of a pupil failing to travel. Regular travel for ten or fewer journeys per week must be booked for a full academic term, except for ad-hoc journeys which can be booked up to the point of departure.
12. Each pupil for whom an online form has been submitted will be added to a bus list detailing the service they travel on, their bus stop and what travel has been paid for. Their name will appear on a list, which will be checked by the driver.
13. It will be the parent’s responsibility to inform the School via the Contact Us form on the website if they no longer wish for their child to use the School Bus Service. One full term’s notice must be given by a parent prior to the removal of a pupil from the School Bus Service (apart from an ad-hoc journey).
14. If you wish for your child to use the School Bus Service on an ad hoc basis, or to vary the details of their bus travel as a one-off, you should book travel via the website prior to travel. A charge of £4.60, £6.50 or £7 per single journey is levied for individual trips depending on location.
15. No pupil is permitted to travel on the School Bus Service if not pre-booked for that bus as they will not be insured to travel. Other arrangements for journeys to and from school must be made by them or their parents.
16. Pupils must travel to and from Royal High School Bath in full school uniform or a full school tracksuit (except on approved non-uniform days).
17. Pupils should be at the bus stop 5 minutes before the scheduled time of departure, to ensure they do not miss the service.
18. Good conduct is required at all times. Tampering with any part of the minibus or its equipment is forbidden. Boisterous or inappropriate behaviour towards others on the vehicle or the public will not be tolerated, any attempt to distract the driver from driving, will not be tolerated and will lead to instant suspension from Transport Services
19. All pupils are reminded that food should not be eaten on vehicles. Products containing peanuts can cause severe reactions. Any student caught eating food will be dealt with accordingly.
20. Three-point adjustable seat belts are fitted to vehicles, the wearing of seatbelts is a legal requirement. Except when embarking or disembarking, all passengers must remain seated with their seat belts fastened correctly. Standing or moving in the aisle is strictly prohibited.
21. Whilst on a School Bus, all passengers must accept, without question, the authority of a Royal High School Bath member of staff, transport company official or bus monitor who may ask them to obey any reasonable instruction such as to pick up litter, desist from certain actions or to move to a different seat. Pupils are expected to comply with all reasonable requests from the driver relating to their own Health & Safety e.g., if the driver requires noise levels to be reduced, windows to be closed etc. then that authority rests solely with the driver and is absolute.
22. Community responsibility. Our drivers will always have students' safety as their priority, but should an incident occur that demands their immediate attention, we would ask all students to work together to remain calm and support each other. Where there is a student younger than Year 3 travelling on the bus, they will be allocated a Senior School student as a buddy, who will be Year 10 age or older.
23. Failure to comply with these conditions may result in disciplinary action, including temporary or permanent withdrawal of permission to use the School Bus Service.
24. Royal High School Bath aims for 95% of journeys to operate within the transport industry window of tolerance of one minute early to five minutes late, however timings may vary due to traffic conditions or unforeseen circumstances. Drivers will not wait past the scheduled departure time.
Royal High School, Lansdown Road, Bath BA1 5SZ
Tel: 01225 313877 - Email: royalhigh@rhsb.gdst.net - Web: www.royalhighbath.gdst.net
The Girls’ Day School Trust Registered Charity No. 306983 Registered Office 10 Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DH - www.gdst.net
Produced by Vectare for Royal High School Bath © Vectare 2024
Timetable, route and fare information is correct as of September 2024. This guide is produced for information only. We cannot be held liable for any errors or omissions or for any loss or damages caused, howsoever arising and including consequential losses, as a result of the use of this School Transport and Travel Guide. Please note that school bus routes are subject to change.
