Parents have raised concerns over the capacity of the service 32 running pupils to the New Garnock Academy.
The service 32 operated by Stagecoach which was operating a double decker since the new school opened has now been removed and replaced with a lower capacity single decker.
Stagecoach reviewed the provision of this high capacity vehicle to assess whether it is possible for this arrangement to continue.
Stagecoach then announced that Unfortunately, a combination of the number of people travelling, the journeys being made and the low fares, mean that it is not possible for us to continue providing a high capacity bus on a commercial basis.
This has now left many parents wondering if not only there children will be picked up for school but what if the bus is full on the way home.
Parents and pupils have also complained about how crowded the bus can be and also lack of seats and the amount of people left to stand for long periods of time.
Stagecoach have said in a statement that they are happy to discuss with the local authorities and the school in regards to bus capacity issues.
The full statement from their website is below
As you will be aware, the location of the new Garnock Academy resulted in a reduction of the provision of home to school transport by North Ayrshire Council which affected a number of pupils.
In response, we put in place a temporary arrangement covering our Service 32, which also serves the school area, to help us assess the longer term impact of the council's decision. Anticipating a higher number of school pupils travelling on this service, we provided a high capacity vehicle to ensure our non-school passengers were not negatively impacted by the additional customer numbers.
We have now reviewed the provision of this high capacity vehicle to assess whether it is possible for this arrangement to continue. Unfortunately, a combination of the number of people travelling, the journeys being made and the low fares, mean that it is not possible for us to continue providing a high capacity bus on a commercial basis.
Therefore, this arrangement will end after 20 January 2017 and Service 32 will operate using a vehicle with the capacity that it did originally.
We understand that some parents have expressed concern over this and this is not a decision we we have taken lightly but unfortunately the current arrangement cannot continue.
Stagecoach also added
We are more than happy to discuss this matter with the local authority and the school itself to look at other potential school transport options over the longer term.