School Transport for Idiots

Here is something from the WMDC's web site* concerning free school travel eligibility. The kids who qualify are:

Children aged 5 - 8 years who live more than 2 miles from the nearest qualifying school. Children aged 8 - 16 years who live more than 3 miles from the nearest qualifying school. Children aged 5 – 16 years who attend a denominational Voluntary Aided School which is the nearest maintained faith school subject to the above qualifying distances.

Wakefield Metropolitan District Council's policy on school transport is fairly typical for the UK. In a nutshell, if you live above a certain distance from a school you get free transport! (I disdain the modern luvvy penchant for exclamation marks, but some things are just too loony not to be given one).

Let's imagine you are parents with four kids. You have to make a decision to buy a house, and have a choice of two, exactly the same price, exactly the same standard. Your place of work lies between the houses. One house is just under three miles walk away from your kids' secondary school (but a three mile bus journey). The walk is largely along busy roads and crosses several of them, (i.e. Impractical to walk or cycle). The other house is 5 miles away. Let's say bus fares are 50p per mile for kids. The kids will make a total of 1,000 return journeys each in their five years at the school. Now the retarded 'transport team' at WMDC are telling you unambigously; “If you move into the house within 'walking distance' of the school, you will pay £12,000 for their school transport, but if you chose to live fucking miles away it is free” What would you do? – like d'uh! And we, the council tax payers, are stumping up the cash. The icing on the cake is that if you actually claim that the earth is only 6,000 years old, despite which several human inhabitants have managed to live in excess of 900 years apiece, and that you should smite all Hashemites, Yashemites, homosexuals and disobedient wives and children (Cue paroxysms of mirth whilst uncontrollably rolling about on the floor), even if you have twelve perfectly good schools next door to your house you can brush your children off to a 'faith' bin and we pay for it. Double whammy – Live far away and believe in nonsense and we'll give you money.

Now, pass me the bible – it's a long trip.