Let Us Travel - Ceredigion

🚍 Cyngor Ceredigion: Newid a gyfaddefwyd, ond dim cofnodion? 🗃️

Rydym newydd dderbyn ymateb i gais Rhyddid Gwybodaeth am y ffordd y mae’r Cyngor yn trin cludiant ysgol yn ôl disgresiwn. Mae’r Cyngor yn cyfaddef ei fod wedi cyflwyno “dull mwy strwythuredig” o wneud penderfyniadau ar ôl blynyddoedd o anghysondeb – ond maent yn honni nad oes ganddynt unrhyw gofnodion mewnol, dim deunydd hyfforddi, a dim canllawiau i staff ar sut mae’r dull hwn yn cael ei weithredu.

Mewn geiriau eraill:
✅ Maen nhw wedi newid sut maen nhw’n gwneud penderfyniadau.
❌ Ond yn dweud nad oes dim papurau, cofnodion cyfarfodydd, e-byst nac unrhyw broses fewnol.

Mae hyn yn codi cwestiynau difrifol:
🔍 Sut mae penderfyniadau’n cael eu gwneud?
📋 Ble mae’r tryloywder?
⚖️ Sut all teuluoedd gael eu trin yn deg os nad oes dim yn cael ei gofnodi?

📢 Os ydych wedi’ch effeithio gan wrthod cludiant neu wedi cael gwybodaeth anghyson, cysylltwch â ni – gall eich llais helpu i adeiladu darlun cliriach.

🚍 Ceredigion Council: Admitting Change, Denying Records? 🗃️

We’ve just had a reply from the Council to a Freedom of Information request about how they handle discretionary school transport. The Council admits it has introduced a “more structured approach” to decision-making after previous inconsistencies — yet they claim they hold no internal records, no training materials, and no staff guidance on how this approach is applied.

In other words:
✅ They’ve changed how they make decisions.
❌ But say there’s no paperwork, no meeting notes, no emails, no internal process.

This raises serious questions:
🔍 How are decisions being made?
📋 Where’s the transparency?
⚖️ How can families be treated fairly if nothing is written down?

📢 If you’ve been affected by a transport refusal or had inconsistent information, get in touch — your voice could help us build a clearer picture.

Ceredigion County Council

Polisi cludiant ysgol yn 'cipio dewisiadau oddi ar blant' Mae rhai rhieni yng Ngheredigion yn poeni na fydd eu plant yn cael bws am ddim i'r ysgol uwchradd ym mis Medi oherwydd y polisi cludiant.

🚗 Sharing a school bus — already running, with places available — can save approximately 1,950 individual car journeys per child over their secondary school years.
That's one child, one seat, one massive impact.

📘 Llwybr Newydd: The Wales Transport Strategy 2021 :

“We will reduce the need to travel by car and support modal shift to more sustainable modes.”
(p. 14)
But Ceredigion’s new school transport policy — denying free transport unless it’s to the nearest school — directly undermines that vision.

❗ The impact of this policy:

🚙 Increases private car dependency
🧭 Penalises rural families with no safe walking/cycling route or viable public transport
🌫️ Increases emissions and congestion, especially around schools
❌ Undermines a fairer, greener transport system for Wales
“We will make it easier and safer to walk, wheel and cycle, and to use public transport…
Our children should be able to walk or cycle to school in safety.”
(p. 27)
📉 Instead of supporting active and sustainable travel, this policy leaves rural children:

⏳ Facing long, unsupervised waits at unsafe bus stops, or
🚗 Forced into cars, adding pressure on parents, roads, and the environment.
⚖️ It is not aligned with the goals of Llwybr Newydd, which prioritises:

🟢 Social equity in transport access
🟢 Sustainable travel for young people
🟢 Reducing rural transport disadvantage
💬 Let’s bring Ceredigion back in line with Wales’ national values.

On Wednesday and Thursday children have been invited to attend their chosen school transition days. Yet they still don't know if they will be traveling by school bus, public bus, car or be forced into a school they don't want to attend. A council spokesperson said 'We are only following our policy'...
Which is an easy way to avoid responding to the issues of equity, individual need, lack of communication, and the impact on children and families.

Change in school bus policy leaves incoming students in the lurch

We now have many families working their way through the appeals process. But this piece-meal approach, one-by-one putting children and families through the machinery, is cruel. Particularly as Ceredigion County Council provided bus timetables, and made no communication attempts with families to explain how they altered their discretionary arrangements.

🧠 Emotional Toll on Children
🎒 Kids went to transition days.
✅ They got a place.
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 They're going with friends.
💔 Now they’re told it’s all off — no bus.
Imagine the impact.