Frederikssund school leases minibus to tackle transport delays

Frederikssund Gymnasium has leased a minibus to take students from nearby Slangerup to and from school, after unreliable public transport left some facing stress and absence, DR reports.

The school’s caretaker, Gorm Gad, volunteered to drive the students in the morning and bring them home in the afternoon.

Principal Anne Vedersø said public transport was affecting students’ daily lives.

“They can become stressed if it is difficult to get here or if they miss their bus. I feel responsible for ensuring that they have a good everyday life,” she said.

Vedersø said students also lacked certainty about whether bus routes would be changed or continue operating the following year.

Gry Mørkøre Nielsen, an 18-year-old second-year student from Slangerup, said the minibus would be more reliable. She has often asked her mother to drive her when the public transport timetable seemed inconvenient.

Seventeen-year-old Carl Steven Hernandez Hally, who is in his second year of the HF programme, said the arrangement would allow him to sleep longer and make it more likely that he would arrive on time.

Both students have received absence marks after being delayed by public transport in the morning. Nielsen said teachers had told students to take an earlier bus.

Hernandez Hally said he had often done so, sometimes arriving before the school opened and waiting until his first class. He described having to choose between getting more sleep and risking absence if the bus was delayed.

Transport and distance can play an important role in young people’s choice of education and their ability to complete it, according to Mette Pless, research director at the National Centre for Vocational Education at Copenhagen University College.

“It goes without saying that it takes determination to complete an education if it is difficult to get there and back, and you have to spend a long time doing so,” Pless said.

She said transport options could become a barrier to upper-secondary education and contribute to inequality, although they were only one factor among several.

Frederikssund Gymnasium is considering expanding the minibus service to students from Hornsherred, who typically face even longer journeys. Vedersø said the school would first test the scheme on a smaller scale in Slangerup and assess its effect on students’ wellbeing.

DR News contacted Movia, which operates bus services on Zealand. The transport company said public transport options were a political priority.