Every weekday morning, school traffic fills your roads, idles outside your schools, and arrives in your inbox as a parking complaint. At the same time, home-to-school transport has become one of the fastest-growing lines in your budget, a statutory duty you can’t reduce by cutting it.
United Parents removes cars from the school run by letting verified parents at the same school share journeys. No new infrastructure, no expensive behaviour-change campaign, and almost no work for school staff.
What it costs councils today
£2.3 billion is spent on home-to-school transport across the UK each year, a statutory service, not a discretionary one.
Up around 10% a year, and up roughly 70% since 2015, while budgets tighten.
Up to 43% of London’s traffic congestion is linked to the school run.
And the cost isn’t only financial: it’s air quality outside school gates, road safety at drop-off, and residents who complain every term about the same street.
How we work with councils
Borough-wide deployment. One agreement covering your schools, rather than thirty separate conversations. We handle school onboarding and parent sign-up.
Measurement you can report. Before-and-after data on car journeys per school, usable for Local Transport Plan reporting, air quality work, and net zero commitments.
Targeted where it counts. We can start with the schools causing the most congestion, or the rural schools where there’s no bus and no realistic alternative.
Where it might reduce spend
Where a shared journey replaces a council-funded taxi or minibus place, the saving lands directly on your transport budget. We’re interested in arrangements built around verified savings rather than a flat licence fee.
Safeguarding
Participation is restricted to parents at the same school, verified against the school’s own roll. Parents choose who they share with. This isn’t an open marketplace, and it never will be.
Interested?
Book a 20-minute conversation at info@united-parents.co.uk