September 08 2025
As pupils across the country return to classrooms, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the unseen journeys that make learning possible, writes CPT Coaching Manager Phil Smith.
As the new school year begins, classrooms up and down the country are filling once again with pupils eager to learn, see friends, and take part in all that school life has to offer. Behind the scenes, coaches are playing a vital but often overlooked role in making this possible.
Every single school day, more than 600,000 children travel to school by coach. For many, this is the only practical way to get from home to the classroom safely and on time. Coaches are also a key enabler for pupils in rural areas, where alternative transport options are limited. Routes are often subsidised by schools themselves to keep them affordable, ensuring that children, wherever they live, can access education on equal terms.
Beyond the daily commute, coaches make it possible for thousands of students to take part in day trips and residential visits across the UK every year. Whether it’s a history trip to a local museum, a geography field study, or a week away at an outdoor activity centre, these experiences are only possible because of the coach industry. Without coaches, the availability of these trips would be seriously restricted – and pupils would miss out on formative opportunities beyond the classroom.
School transport is a unique part of the coach sector. Unlike long-distance services or private hire, these journeys are highly seasonal. Demand rises sharply each September as the academic year begins, and then follows the rhythm of term times and holidays. This creates challenges for operators, who must balance the peaks and troughs in demand while still ensuring there are enough vehicles and drivers available to deliver safe and reliable services every day.
Take East Yorkshire Buses, which owns five coach operators in the region, as an example. Across 13 depots, the company collectively operates around 130 school journeys every day – making up roughly 40% of its business. Services range from primary school runs to college transport, creating a pattern of “feast or famine”: extremely busy during term time, but quieter in the summer. To manage this seasonality, drivers are sometimes hired on a part-time basis, and careful planning ensures the company can scale up when schools return each autumn.
Ben Gilligan, Managing Director of East Yorkshire Buses, highlights another key difference in school services:
“We try wherever possible to have the same driver on a route regularly. It helps build a rapport with pupils and improves behaviour standards among passengers who might otherwise be unruly. For schools, the qualities they value most in a coach partner are reliability, flexibility, and no hassle – and that’s what we work to provide.”
This kind of attention to detail underlines the special role that school transport plays within the wider coach industry.
Despite the challenges, coach operators across the country continue to step up, ensuring hundreds of thousands of pupils get to school safely and that educational trips remain affordable and accessible. For parents, teachers, and pupils alike, that makes coaches an indispensable part of school life.
So as schools return this week, it’s worth recognising that the education journey for many children quite literally starts with a coach ride. At CPT, we’ll continue working with our members to make sure that remains the case – keeping education moving, both inside and outside the classroom.