A RADICAL bus scheme to cut down on congestion from school runs has been launched in Basingstoke.

The Hampshire County Council-funded project will allow pupils at Aldworth Science College and Kempshott and Park View infant and junior schools to travel to and from school for a fee of £1 per day.

The American-style yellow buses are the first in the county and transport and education chiefs will be watching to see how the £1.5million experiment works over the three-year trial period.

The three dedicated buses began running just over two weeks ago and already the uptake is greater than 50 per cent. Two of the buses can carry up to 60 passengers, and the third, which is suitable for wheelchairs, can carry 50 passengers.

Parents at the five Basingstoke schools will be asked to ditch the car in favour of sending their youngsters to school on the bus, reducing congestion and pollution. If it is successful, it could be rolled out across the whole of the county.

Basingstoke was chosen as a pilot area because it was identified as suffering from high congestion levels at school-run times and because a significant number of pupils live between one and three miles from their school.

Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, who was at the launch at Kempshott Junior School, in Homesteads Road, said he was delighted with how the scheme had taken off.

He said: "We have got 89 children regularly using the bus service which, at this stage, is very good. And when parents of infants see other parents of infants sending their children by bus - and arriving safely - I'm sure we will get more and more passengers."

He added: "If we have 50 children travelling on a bus, then we could have as many as 50 cars off the road."

Pam Wellington, headteacher at Kempshott Junior School, said local residents had commented on the reduction in road congestion since the pilot scheme began.

"Everyone who works in Basingstoke can tell when it is the school holidays just by the amount of traffic on the road," she said. "Hopefully, this scheme will change that."