Booking order
Last updated 28th February 2010.
September 2010
will be the fourth year we have operated the bus, and for the first
time I will have the painful duty of turning parents away. Whilst
this is good for the long term future of the bus, it is not going to
be pleasant for those involved. Therefore I am setting out a fair
and clear policy for ticket renewals and new bookings to ensure
everyone knows where they stand. I try to give existing passengers a
"seat for life" - but such a policy requires punctual renewal
by the parents.
This is the order seats will be allocated on the bus for the
school year starting September 2010:
- Existing parents can renew prior to Thursday 24th June
2010 and be sure of their seat. After that date any
renewal application arriving will be processed but the seat may
already have been lost to someone on the waiting list.
Let's be clear here - if you renew late you will almost
certainly lose your seat.
"Renewing" means you have sent me your completed application
form including payment details. Payment will be taken
from your card on or after 1st July 2010.
- Any seats remaining on Friday 25th June
will be made available to new children whose application forms
have been received and who are on the "waiting list".
Seats are
allocated on a first come first served basis to these new
applicants in the following order:
- Siblings of existing passengers.
- Any new passengers for full or am/pm only tickets.
- Any others (custom tickets).
- I have given myself a week to go through all the
applications, with the promise to new parents to confirm whether
or not their child has a seat by Thursday 1st July
latest. I expect to be able to tell new parents on
Saturday 26th June, but wanted some contingency in case I'm
away.
At that stage new parents will need to show commitment to the
seat otherwise I'll move down the list and offer the seat to the
next family.
- Anyone who fails to get a seat can remain on the waiting
list if they wish. An opportunity may arise if there is a
cancellation in the summer, or during the first term. This
doesn't happen very often though.
To secure a seat, parents need to complete and send in an
application form for the new school year, plus a passport style
photo of their child for the bus pass. This applies to existing and
new parents.
Money will be deducted from your payment card during the first
week or two of July, or when your application is processed if after that
date. Your ticket, invoice, payment slip, timetable and covering
letter will be posted to you when your payment is taken.
It is always my ambition to have all of the admin complete by the
time the school holidays start. I remain ever hopeful, and appreciate
your cooperation in achieving that objective.
ACROSS OXFORD TICKETS:
These seats are NOT guaranteed year on year.
These tickets offer travel from Headington or Rye St Antony
schools across the city to Oxford High School (and back again in the
afternoon). They are very popular and are over subscribed.
The bus will be full when it reaches Headington school. A seat
only becomes available for an OHS student if a passenger gets off at
Headington or Rye. We may have this sorted one year, and then the
next year we have less Headington/Rye children - and therefore can
pick up less OHS girls in Headington. It will mean some current
passengers will have to come off the bus.
First I will see if there is a natural loss by non-renewal. After
which I will ask for volunteers to leave the bus. Failing those
efforts, passengers will need to come off the bus in the order of
last on, first off.
Children currently on the bus should be safe, as we are
introducing additional capacity by picking up when Rye children get
off. But the intake from September 2010 need to be aware they are at
risk of this happening to them.
Seat allocation from September 2011:
The ticket policy will be
different from September 2011. My initial thoughts are existing
passengers can renew up to a set date in June, after which any
untaken seat will be allocated in this order:
- Siblings. If there aren't enough places for all the siblings
applying then the seat allocation will favour parents who helped
subsidise the bus in the first year, families who have been on
the bus longest, and families with least alternative choices.
- New applicants for full time tickets who live between
Nettlebed and Great Milton, allocated in the order they apply
(i.e. first come, first served).
- New applicants for full time tickets from other stops
(Wheatley), allocated in the order they applied.
- I will try and match any applicant for a part time ticket
(AM or PM only) with another applicant. For example, a mornings'
only ticket passenger with an afternoons' only request. If such
a match is made, this pair of applicants will slip into the
above booking order according to date of application.
- Across city tickets will be allocated based on available
seats in this order:
- Existing passengers in the order of longevity on the
bus. (Meaning last on first off if there are insufficient
seats)
- New passengers in the order they applied.