Vale of Glamorgan Council has confirmed that all eligible pupils have been issued with physical bus passes while work continues on the BusBuddie scheme, which would allow parents and pupils to access school transport passes through a mobile phone app.
The council said it was continuing to work with the system provider while “remaining technical issues” are resolved.
South Wales Central Senedd member Andrew RT Davies welcomed the decision to pause the scheme, but said he remained concerned about the proposed use of a smartphone-based travel pass.
Mr Davies said: “While I welcome this pause, it’s still concerning the council does not recognise the issues that moving to a school travel scheme that requires access to a smartphone will bring.
“It’s also worrying to hear their lawyers are still assessing legal issues regarding the scheme.
“At a time when we should be banning smartphones in schools, implementing a transport pass that requires use of a device sends the wrong message.
“I’ve raised further concerns with the authority and will continue pressing this issue.
“The council should abandon BusBuddie and stick with a physical pass system.”
The council confirmed in correspondence with Mr Davies that the scheme has been paused for the start of the academic year and that physical passes have been issued to eligible pupils.
The issue has prompted debate among parents and carers on social media.
Some commenters questioned whether access to a smartphone should be linked to school transport, while others argued that a digital pass system was separate from wider discussions about mobile phone use in schools.
A spokesperson for Vale of Glamorgan Council said: “The council is continuing to work closely with the provider of the new digital school transport system whilst the remaining technical issues are resolved.
“The new system is intended to provide a more efficient way of managing school transport for families, pupils and schools. The system will track whether a pupil has boarded a bus and the time of boarding. This acts as a safeguarding measure and also allows monitoring of whether a bus is running on time.
“A digital bus pass also allows push notifications to be sent to pupils and parents to inform them of real-time issues, for example if a bus is running late due to traffic congestion.”
The council said printed bus passes had been issued to all eligible pupils to ensure they could travel without disruption at the start of term.
It added that physical passes would continue to be available for families who do not wish to use a digital pass if the system is introduced in future.
The authority also said the scheme was not intended to conflict with any policies schools may introduce regarding mobile phone use, as the app would only be used before and after the school day.
