Arriva get on board with Liverpool School Sports Partnership to offer free transport, saving schools thousands of pounds 

Liverpool School Sports Partnership (LSSP) confirm an agreement with Arriva UK Bus to offer free transport to ensure equal access to sport and physical activity opportunities, which could see individual schools in Liverpool save approximately £5,000 per academic year.

The new partnership between LSSP and Arriva is set to run for the remainder of the 2024/25 academic year, giving 6,000 young people at LSSP-affiliated primary and secondary schools the opportunity to engage in sports events and festivals without having to worry about transport costs or logistics.  

If successful, the partnership will be renewed for the entirety of the 2025/26 academic year, supporting more than 16,000 pupils and students to attend LSSP sports competitions across the city.  

By introducing this initiative, LSSP are helping to ease the burden of costs to schools by reducing the use of minibuses, ensuring young people can still enjoy the benefits of taking part in the 220+ aspirational and inspirational competitions the organisation host throughout the year.

Joint Chief Executive Officer at LSSP, Jimmy McGinn, commented:

“We are delighted to be partnering with Arriva to offer schools in the LSSP network free transport to all of our competitions and events. 

“Ensuring school sport is accessible for everyone is a key priority at LSSP and we’re extremely proud that we’ve been able to secure this partnership with Arriva following feedback from schools who cite transport costs as a major barrier to participation in competitions. 

“This partnership will create further opportunities for young people to compete in a variety of sports, whilst supporting them to become happy, healthy and active individuals.”  

Richard Hoare, Area Director for Arriva North West said:

“We’re proud to partner with LSSP in their incredible work giving young people greater access to sports competitions and activities.

“As the leading bus operator in Merseyside, we’re deeply committed to supporting the communities we serve. 

“This partnership is a meaningful way for us to help them and level the playing field to ensure all young people—regardless of background—have the chance to see, take part and thrive through sport.”

With schools up and down the country facing funding cuts, LSSP wanted to remove the hurdles many education providers are met with when budgeting for external trips and extra-curricular activities. 

Headteacher of Mab Lane Primary School in the LSSP network, Laura Tracey, commented:

“The announcement from LSSP regarding their new partnership with Arriva is welcomed news to us here at Mab Lane and I imagine all Headteachers across the city will join me in sharing similar thoughts. 

“We attended the British Gymnastics Championships at the M&S Bank Arena in March, where LSSP coordinated free bus travel which allowed us to take our students to the prestigious event, and this would not have been viable without free transport, so finding out about this new partnership is extremely encouraging.  

“By having access to free bus travel, it will enable us to enter more students into the LSSP school competitions as we won’t have to worry about how we afford the ever-increasing transport costs, not to mention it will also support our school’s carbon footprint.” 

By September 2025, as mandated by the Department for Education, all education settings in England must have a Climate Action Plan in place and LSSP’s new partnership with Arriva will allow schools within its network to include this as one of the ways they’re tackling climate change. 

This partnership is just one of the initiatives LSSP has introduced to support climate action across Liverpool, as they’ve teamed up with Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to back their ‘School Streets’ scheme which aims to reduce traffic congestion and promote active travel by restricting vehicles around schools during drop-off and pick-up times. 

To develop children’s skills in cycling and scooting to school, LSSP coaches work with primary schools across Liverpool to run its Balanceability and SkootSkool programmes, so children have the confidence to travel to and from school safely. 

LSSP-affiliated schools can apply for free transport now through the LSSP network, with schools in disadvantaged areas and those demonstrating high levels of pupil engagement in sport being prioritised. 

Find out more about Liverpool School Sport Partnership here.

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