I live in Blyth and I am studying A Levels in Maths, Physics, IT and Philosophy & Ethics at Cramlington Learning Village. Am I eligible for transport?
You would not be eligible for transport as the majority of subjects (Maths, Physics & IT) you are studying are available at a closer appropriate establishment (see policy for details). This does not mean you cannot study at Cramlington, only that Northumberland County Council cannot help you with travel costs.
What if I wanted to just study Maths, Physics and Philosophy & Ethics at Cramlington and live in Blyth?
Again you would not be eligible for transport as the majority of subjects (Maths and Physics) are available at a closer appropriate establishment.
And what if I studied 5 subjects at Cramlington?
Again, if 3 out of the 5 (i.e. a majority) were available at a closer appropriate establishment then we would not be able to provide you with travel.
I live in Seaton Delaval and want to study a BTEC National Diploma in Sports Science at Newcastle College. Am I eligible?
You would only be eligible if there wasn’t a similar course available at closer appropriate establishment. In this instance we do a course search at the more local education establishments, in this case Astley High School and if there is a similar course available there, then you would not be eligible for transport.
I live in Seaton Sluice and study at Tyne Met Sixth Form College at North Shields. I am eligible for transport. What bus pass will I get?
Providing you meet the eligibility criteria, we would provide you with the cheapest appropriate transport pass. This maybe from any one of our operators we have agreements with. We do a detailed journey plan using software with information updated on a weekly basis, and determine which pass you will get from that information.
I live in Bedlington and travel to Newcastle College to study. What type of travel pass, will I get?
Again, providing you meet the eligibility criteria we would again provide the cheapest travel pass that is most appropriate for your journey.
But that pass only allows me to travel into Newcastle; the college is the other side of the city?
We expect all students to be able to walk from the Haymarket and Eldon Square bus stations to the relevant site.
I live in Ashington, I am 18 years old and I am studying at Northumbria University. Am
I eligible?
No. Although you would qualify due to your age, because you are studying at University, we cannot help you as the scheme is for college and sixth form students only.
I live in Choppington and study at Northumberland College, when will I receive my pass?

You won’t. You are not eligible for transport as you live closer than 3 miles to the college.
I live in Riding Mill and I am studying A Levels at Queen Elizabeth High School. You have issued me with a pass to use the school bus, but I sometimes start after 9am and finish before school finishes as I am in Sixth Form. Isn’t there another pass I can get?
Not really. Northumberland County Council has a duty of care to get eligible students to and from school or college. We provide school buses all over the county at considerable cost per day. To make those services cost effective to the tax payer, we have to spread the costs over as many students as we can. Therefore we have to fill the school buses first. This spreads the costs and also ensures that we can control capacities on vehicles. If you wish to use other transport, you would have to pay for this yourself.
I have been rejected for transport to a school that is further away from my home than my local school, but was given transport until Year 11. Should I not get that now?
Not necessarily. Just because you had transport supplied by us until Year 11, you are not guaranteed to get transport from Year 12. We would examine your application against the conditions of the policy and if you met those conditions we would help you with transport.
I live in Hexham and it’s more convenient to use the train. Will I get a train pass?
We normally only supply students with bus passes as the train works out to be almost 4 times as expensive over the course of the year. We would only supply train passes for students who have a specific medical condition that means they cannot use the bus, or if using the bus would mean that they miss their last feeder transport to their home area.
Depending on demand, students in Berwick and studying at Newcastle are provided with a train pass.
I live in Seaton Sluice and study at Monkseaton High School. Would I be eligible for help?
No. That school is outside Northumberland, and therefore we would not be able to provide transport as we would expect you to attend your local school unless the courses you are pursuing are unavailable at your local school.
I live in Burradon and travel to Northumberland College. Can you help me?
No. Burradon is not in Northumberland, and therefore outside our jurisdiction. You would have to contact your local council to see what help they can give you.
As part of my course, I have to attend placement two days a week. Does the travel scheme cover this?
The travel scheme only covers for when students are travelling to and from college. It is up to the student to pay for them to get to and from placement.
I am studying a foundation degree at Newcastle College with a view to going on to study a degree. Can I have a travel pass?
Students studying Foundation degrees are not eligible for transport as these courses are classed has Higher Education Courses. Therefore funding is available for students to get help to cover costs on accommodation, course fees and travel through Student Loans.
I am studying a sports related course at college. How would you decide if there is a similar course available at a more local establishment?
We would first decide your eligibility based on the other criteria, such as your age, where you live and where you are studying. We then search the more local education establishments to

ascertain whether the course (or a similarly named course) is offered. We would then look at the course content supplied by the establishments to determine whether a course is similar.
This involves looking at the course content of the named place of study (i.e. what is written in the application form) and the course content of the similarly deemed course at the more local establishment. If those core content of the course is similar (i.e. some of modules studied are the same or similar) then we would deem the courses similar and the application would be rejected.
I live in Blyth and I have been given a pass to use the Northumberland County Council subsidised bus. My friends have been given an Arriva pass and this would be better for me as some days I finish college at 1200pm. Can I have that pass?
No. There is a cost involved with providing the subsidised college transport. As long as there are seats available on that service you will have to make do with that pass as it allows you free travel between your home and college. We cannot afford to supply students with demand responsive transport, and where possible we try to put students on Northumberland
Council subsidised vehicles due to the extra cost involved in purchasing bus passes from commercial companies. As the bus pass you have been given facilitates travel and therefore learning, it would be up to you if you left college early and got alternative transport. In that sense you must bare any cost involved with this. Alternatively you can wait at college for your facilitated transport for your return journey.
There will also be specific reasons as to why those students have been given an alternative pass.
I study on a full-time course at college but this is only two days a week. What sort of assistance will I get?
Providing you are eligible for the scheme, the type of assistance will depend on where you are studying and what the most economical means were to get you there. If we can accommodate you on a contracted vehicle, then you will get a travel pass to use this.
Depending on the costs of a commercial pass, you may be allocated one of those, or we would agree to reimburse your costs. You will of course be advised how to do this in writing.
I have been given a pass to use Go North East services. It would be better to have an
Arriva pass, can I exchange my Go pass for an Arriva pass?
No. The Go pass allows you unlimited travel on all Go North East services throughout the
North East. We expect you to be able to walk up to one mile to the nearest pick up point. We have extensive information about all services operating in the North East and we allocate passes using that information. As we believe there is no difference between the operators on quality of service, we supply students with the cheapest product available to us (providing that it meets their needs).
I want to appeal against a decision to reject transport, how can I do this?
You can do this by putting your appeal in writing to Linda Vernon, School Organisation
Manager, County Hall, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 2EF within 10 working days of the date of the original rejection letter.
I have been rejected for transport, but I think I should be given transport as the course titles between the two courses that you compare are different, I should therefore have a pass?
You will not be eligible for a pass for this reason. When we do our course searches, we look at the final qualification that a student will gain and not course title, and therefore some courses are called differently from other similar courses. For example a CACHE Diploma is
Childcare is the same course as a BTEC National Diploma in Childcare.
I have missed the deadline to apply for transport, when will you supply it?

The deadlines we set are published early within the year. If we do not receive your application before these deadlines, you will have to wait for us to supply you with transport. If this is the case, you will be responsible for getting yourself to school or college and you are also responsible for all costs incurred.
My course began in August but you have only supplied transport from September.
Why? And will I get a refund?
You are not eligible for a refund as we only supply transport from the beginning of term in
September. You will have to get yourself to school or college and pay for this yourself until the beginning of the academic year.
Why do you not supply free transport to everyone?
We have a policy that sets out what we will and will not provide transport assistance to. You must meet all criteria in the policy to be eligible for the scheme, otherwise you will be rejected.
The Post 16 Scheme is a discretionary scheme, meaning that we have no legal obligation to supply transport to students past the statutory school leaving age, therefore the conditions of the policy are determined by ourselves.
I do after school/college activities which mean that I will miss the service home that you provide. In doing so, I have to pay my own way home, which is not fair. Will you pay for this?
We do not provide any transport for after school or college activities. We have a duty of care to eligible students to get them to and from their education establishment to facilitate learning.
If you choose to represent the school, for instance, at football, this is your choice and you should think about how you will get home before undertaking these activities.
But it is a free transport scheme, and that clearly means it is not free as I have to pay my own way home?
Again, the scheme is a discretionary scheme meaning that the conditions are set out clearly in our extended policy. We are one of the only authorities within the UK that offer a free scheme and the costs involved with this are very high. We cannot cater for individual transport needs for each student. The majority of other authorities within the UK charge as much as £600 per annum for a student to join their scheme.
I have had 2 years of support, but one of those years I had to pay for the scheme when you charged. This means that I haven’t had 2 years of free support so you should supply me transport for another year?
No. Whether or not you had to make a contribution in years gone by, you are only eligible for
2 years. Transport provision actually costs a lot more than the subsidy you had to provide therefore we would not normally provide transport past the two years.
Why do I have to prove enrolment?
You have to prove enrolment as unfortunately there have been a number of instances over the years where students have fraudulently obtained bus passes by stating that they are studying at a particular establishment and then are found not to be. Therefore by asking you to provide confirmation of enrolment on a course, we can ensure that the correct support is given to right students.
I have been issued with a travel pass, but it only runs until the end of term. Do I need to reapply?

No, once our checks are carried out with all schools and colleges to ensure that students are still attending and on the courses they say they stated in their application, we will automatically re-order new passes ready for the next term beginning.
I have supplied a photo with my application but need to put another in my bus pass.
Why?
As we cannot distinguish which passes a student will be allocated until they apply, we request that students supply us with a photo when applying for the scheme. Some photos are used by our team at Northumberland County Council when producing bus passes that can be used on our contracted services, however some passes that we order from commercial operators ne ed to have photo’s put into their passes. You will therefore need to ensure that you put a photo in the bus pass when required to do so as these are parts of the terms and conditions set by the bus companies. We retain each photo supplied to us on-file.
I am unhappy with the service provided by the operator, what can I do?
We would ask parents and students in the first instance to make their complaint to the bus company direct to try and resolve a situation. If the complaint is about a service provider who have a contract to provide a service with the Council directly (for instance on a school contract) then they can also contact the Network Team within the Integrated Transport Unit on
0845 600 6400.
For complaints about the service provided by operators such as Go North East, Arriva or
Stagecoach Newcastle, we advise to contact those bus companies directly and only involve the Council as a last resort. Please note however that we cannot do anything to help if complaints are about bus drivers or buses not running to time etc on normal commercial services.
I have lost my pass, how do I get a replacement?
If your pass has been provided ‘in-house’ by the Council, then it will cost you £10 to replace the pass. This can be done by contacting the Integrated Transport Unit who can advise how to make the payment.
If the pass is a commercial pass from either Go North East or Arriva, you will have to contact those companies direct to get a replacement pass. Replacement costs are £10 for a Go pass and £25 for an Arriva pass in the first instance and full price of £540 or £660 respectively for any further replacements.
I have left my form with school/college to send to you, where is my pass?
If you have not heard from us either way to tell you that you have been granted travel support or rejected, then most likely we have not received your application. It is our strong suggestion that students do not leave forms with schools or colleges to send to us as our experience is that we do not receive them. Our advice is to send forms into us yourself.
I study at Haydon Bridge High School and I board there during the week, what type of transport allocation will I get?
As long as you met the eligibility criteria to gain transport support, you will generally be provided with a travel pass that allows you to travel from your home address to school on a
Monday morning and then back on a Friday evening. We will also make arrangements for your transport between school and Ridley Hall during the week.
We treat you as eit her a “boarder” or “travels everyday” and if you board and wish to travel between school and home other than the times mentioned above, then you will be charged the full fare and cannot claim a reimbursement.

*** Subjects based on subject availability at Schools during 2009/10 academic year.
Information correct as of 29.12.2009.