MANY parents of sixth form school pupils in Newport are in for a financial shock at the start of the new school year in September.

For transport costs which have cost in the region of £40 a year are to rocket to £347.

This is an incredible increase by any stretch of the imagination.

And we fear that many paretns will just not be able to afford it.

For a cost to rise by such a massive amount in one go seems to us to be at best unfair.

We can fully udnerstand why the council needs to look at the cost of home to school transport. Everything is being put under the spotlight in the current economic climate.

We can also understand why ithe city council is looking to make a saving in this particular area.

But to do so in such a draconian fashion is surely not the best way forward.

Surely a phased introduction of increased costs would be much more equitable,

One real concern we have is that this cost will deter some pupils from staying on into the sixth form, surely something which should be encouraged given the worryingly high rates of youth unemployment we have in Wales.

The other issue of course is tha parents may instead choose to drop their children off at school by car leading to more traffic on our already busy roads at the busiest times of the day.