Andrew Dismore

As all children and young people return to their classrooms for the spring term, we will be continuing to help children get to school safely and on time. We are asking everyone travelling to school to walk, cycle or scoot if they can, plan their journey in advance, and follow safe travel guidance when using public transport.

From 8 March, bus services are planned to operate similarly to how they did during the autumn term. Extra services are planned to run on some routes – with some adjustments to the extra services that ran last year to reflect demand. Up to half of buses on certain higher-frequency routes are planned to be signed as ‘school services’ at school travel times (generally between 07:30 and 09:00 in the morning and 14:30 and 16:30 in the afternoon). We also plan to operate a full service on our schoolday-only routes (generally numbered 600-699).

Details of planned additional bus services and routes operating with buses signed as a ‘school service’ will also be updated on our bus service changes webpage once confirmed. We also have a dedicated webpage with the latest information on school travel.

Schoolchildren travelling without adults should travel on the school services where possible, to help provide space for other customers on regular services. Customers who are not schoolchildren but who need to travel at school travel times (including school staff) are strongly encouraged to use the regular services.

The planned arrangements will remain in place until at least the end of the current term. We will confirm plans for after Easter closer to the time. We will keep these arrangements under review, and will continue to closely monitor demand for services and plans for the return of schools.

We are urging everyone who needs to travel to school or for another legally permitted reason to plan their journey in advance using our journey planner or the TfL Go app and check before they travel.

We are continuing to take a range of measures to ensure that the public transport network is clean and safe – including our enhanced cleaning regime. We ask everyone travelling to continue following our safer travel guidance to protect themselves and others. This includes maintaining social distancing where possible, washing or sanitising hands before and after journeys, and considering walking or cycling where possible. Bus windows should remain open to ensure a good supply of fresh air, even in cold weather.

It is compulsory for everyone aged 11 and over to wear a face covering over their nose and mouth throughout any public transport journey unless exempt. The overwhelming majority of our customers are doing the right thing and protecting others by wearing a face covering, and our officers are working hard to ensure compliance.

School times are the busiest on the bus network, and we ask everyone travelling to follow this guidance to help protect everyone’s health and control the spread of the virus.