Students who may wish to travel by bus to Castle School

All bus travel to and from school by students is a choice between parent/carer and child and with the bus provider.  The basic legal responsibility for children’s travel to school rests with the parents/carers.  The school does not commision any bus services or hold any contracts with any bus service.  All services are either commercially run, public transport or provided by South Gloucestershire or Gloucestershire County Council. 

Some buses come into the Castle School car park at the end of the school day to collect  students. These services arrive at different times and all depart from  3.15. Some of these buses pick up students from another school before coming to Castle School.

 All students need to be ready to  board their bus at 3.15 pm (at the latest) as the buses depart from 3.15pm. Students do need to have a method of communicating with parents / carers if they have any issues with their buses after school and parents/ carers should contact the providers of the bus services with any issues.

Information on services run by commercial, public providers or South Gloucestershire and Gloucestershire Councils 

Applegates *

Applegates use a cashless ticket system. If your child plans to use the Applegates bus service please go online and purchase/reserve  seats for transport.

The link is Memo – School Routes 

The CS7 bus  serves The Castle School and Marlwood school. 

The Applegates bus service is just for students so no members of the public travel on the CS7. This is  dedicated school transport which means services that are used only to carry pupils to school. This is a commercial service.

South Gloucestershire Transport

South Gloucestershire Council Contracted transport (Free of charge to students in the catchment)

Students who are under the age of 16 and require transport to and from school and live within the school’s designated catchment area are provided with free transport by South Gloucestershire Council. Students eligible for this free transport are provided with passes. Any issues about bus pasess should be communicated to Client Transport at South Gloucestershire Council -Tel 01454 863924(5) or (6) or Tel 01454 863929  - All other students can choose to travel to school by bus using a commercial service or a public transport bus service for which the student will pay themselves.

We have been asked to request that all parents/ carers  communicate all transport related issues to the South Gloucestershire Council office, not the contractor. This will enable them to best manage the contracts. 

Client Transport at South Gloucestershire Council

P.O. Box 1954

Bristol

BS37 0DD

Tel 01454 863924(5)/(6) or Tel 01454 863929

Email AdmissionsAndTransport@southglos.gov.uk

Integrated Transport Unit

South Gloucestershire Council

P.O. Box 1954

Bristol

BS37 0DD

Tel 01454 863929

Email  james.garwood@southglos.gov.uk

Email  shaun.lippiatt@southglos.gov.uk

Commercial Bus Routes

A route that is run by a Commercial company.  Some of these routes are provided by these Commercial companies alongside popular school routes dropping/ collecting from/at one or more schools. These Commercial services may be predominantly used by school students but can be used by members of the public. For safety reasons Castle School allows some of  these buses to enter the school site to pick up and drop off students for this service. Students pay for this service.

Public Bus service

Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. Students pay for this service.

Public transport responsibility has  been transferred to the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) and so all emails should go to them.  transport.operations@westofengland-ca.gov.uk WECA financially support some dedicated bus services.

Gloucestershire County Council 

Tel  01452 427004

Email  Sam.Westwood@gloucestershire.gov.uk

Assistant Transport Review Officer

Integrated Transport Unit

Issues and Complaints

All bus travel to and from school by students is a choice between parent/carer and child and with the bus provider.  If a parent or carer has any issue with the provision of the bus services that their child or children use to travel to and from school they should contact the bus provider directly.     

Although many students live within walking or cycling distance from Castle School, a significant proportion are reliant on either buses, coaches or taxis to get to and from school.  Students under the age of 16 who require transport and live within the school’s designated catchment area are provided with free transport by South Gloucestershire Council. 

Other students are able to pay to use commercial service routes that run from Bradley Stoke, Stoke Gifford and Severn Beach. There are also public transport bus routes from Filton and Patchway and the surrounding areas but these do not stop at the school and will only stop at designated bus stops in Thornbury Town Centre, Gloucester Road or Park Road depending on each particular route. Parents and carers and students are responsible for checking the accuracy of this information

Public Transport (fares charged) 

Eurocoaches  918

Starts at Severn Beach then continues onto Redwick & Pilning , Easter Compton, Over Lane and Lower Almondsbury, Tockington, Olveston, Old Down, Alveston  and then on to The Castle School.  This bus stops in the school grounds in the morning and leaves the school grounds after 15.15.  Eurocoaches operate this service which has been guaranteed until July 2025, thanks to a group of parents working with South Gloucestershire Council to obtain a significant temporary subside.  This campaign is continuing, in order to obtain long term support from WECA (West of England Combined Authority), which is needed to secure the bus's future. It would be great if you could add your name to the campaign, so that we can demonstrate support for this bus service when we are negotiating with WECA.  Please email Caroline Brewser (Parent representative) at cbrewser@freeuk.com (no action is needed, apart from to say your children rely on the bus). Thanks for doing this - it is really valuable. 

Tel 01454 320101- Select Option 2 .

Routes that are currently timetabled to Thornbury Town Centre

T1 First Bus

Harry Stoke, Bradley Stoke, Almondsbury, Alveston (App ticket available for this service)

Students up to the age of 16 living in the villages surrounding Thornbury who are eligible for transport are issued with passes that entitle them to free transport on these services during the school terms.  

Current South Gloucestershire Contracted Routes

Route  CAS910 serving Tytherington, Milbury Heath, Whitfield

Route CAS913 Thornbury Circular serving Rockhampton, Oldbury-on-Severn, Kington etc.

Route CAS917 serving Charfield, Falfield

Current Commercial/Public Routes direct to the Castle School

(fares charged)

Applegates Coaches CS7

Stoke Gifford, Alveston, Bradley Stoke.

Stagecoach 622

Cribbs Causeway, Lower Almondsbury, Tockington, Olveston, Alveston, Rangeworthy, Yate, Chipping Sodbury (App ticket Castle Megarider available for this service)  This service is a public service bus- dedicated supported service .

Stagecoach 10                                 

Operates from Bristol Parkway & Hortham to Castle School   This service is a public service bus- dedicated supported service .

West Link service 

The West Link Travel west service runs without a fixed timetable or route and can be booked by people through the WESTlink app, online https://westlink.app.ridewithvia.com/login or by phone 0117 457 8561