So Are The School Buses Being Axed or Not?

It’s been a dramatic, *checks notes*, ONE DAY in the world of Manx politics (and Facebook comments sections) as a war of words has broken out between Infrastructure Minister Dr Michelle Haywood and Manx.News.

At the heart of the chaos isn’t the online spat, though, it’s the question that’s had parents clutching their travel cards: are the school buses being axed or not?

Spoiler: no, your child won’t be forced to sprint to school, although some might benefit getting off the Xbox!

And you’d have probably have known that if you read the article. Not that we saw much confusion from it at all.

Anyway, this all started during yesterday’s Tynwald sitting (a thrilling return after 96 days off) when Onchan MHK Julie Edge asked why people were seeing empty buses heading to and from depots during school runs.

Dr Haywood replied: ‘Underlying that transport strategy is a new bus strategy that is in draft format and we anticipate will be submitted to this honourable court within the next couple of months.

‘That new bus strategy sets some changes in play, which means that we will no longer have dedicated school buses, but we will have buses that can be used by the community more generally…’

Now, that does sound a bit like the school buses might be, well, not just school buses anymore.

Enter Manx.News with their headline, and Dr Haywood with her fiery response.

‘School Buses Facing the Axe’ was the title of their article.

And Dr Haywood then told members: ‘I’d like to reassure this court and anyone else that Energy FM have got it wrong. I am not axing school buses… Utter nonsense.’

Later last night, she took to Facebook, accusing journalists of ‘click bait headlines designed to unsettle people’, adding: ‘I wish some journalists could do better.’

Manx.News stood their ground, saying: ‘We stand by what we said… listen for yourself.’ They have the receipts.

Now, whether you think the headline was fair or not, that’s for you to decide.

The key thing is that the public needed to know what was being said, and what could be happening in the not so distant future, and that’s exactly what the story did. Surely that’s a good thing, right?

If anything, a bit of clarity following the ministers comments might have saved a few panicked school-run WhatsApps.

So here’s the bottom line: school buses aren’t being axed, but they might well share their route with the rest of us at some point.

Which means, yes, you could soon be sat next to a pack of Year 9s discussing Fortnite (or whatever kids talk about nowadays, is dabbing still in fashion?) at full volume. Lucky you!

But rest easy, your kids will still have a bus to get to school. No need to dust off their running shoes or rework your morning commute just yet.