Photograph: David Sillitoe
Antisocial behaviour by schoolchildren on public transport is on the rise, according to new figures. Transport for London last week confirmed a 55% increase in reports of crime by under-16s on buses in the year since a free bus travel scheme was introduced by the mayor, Ken Livingstone.
Overcrowding and rowdiness is putting other passengers off as more pupils pack on to free buses instead of walking or taking the tube. And when it comes to tackling this behaviour, it's not entirely clear whether schools, the police, local authorities or public transport operators are responsible.
This week, bus driver John Norris added his voice to the debate in an interview with EducationGuardian. A driver for 20 years, Norris says it's the same thing everyday.
"You always get the rowdy kids, ringing the bells. The problem now is the overcrowding. They attack the bus from all sides. You pull up at a stop, the centre doors open, and the kids rush on. It's an exit door, but that doesn't matter. You've got no control. Anyone in the way gets trampled," he says.
I remember my bus ride home after first day at high school. My friend and I were told by a group of girls in the fifth form that we weren't allowed to sit on the long back seat on the top deck of the bus because it belonged to them. Slightly shrinking behind my friend, we bravely told them we had got there first and we wouldn't budge.
Surprisingly, the girls, who seemed at 16 more worldly than I think I ever will be, didn't hurl us off our seats, but all six of them squeezed in next to us. It wasn't a comfortable journey and I sat in fear the entire time, but my attention was slightly diverted by the bus driver downstairs shouting at people to be quiet and then whizzing passed bus stops - it wasn't so much would I get off the bus in one piece, but would I ever get off the bus? That journey on my first day set the tone for the next four years of travelling to and from school by public transport. It wasn't going to be pleasant.
Looking back I can see how we might have frightened the locals and annoyed the bus drivers - hundreds of screaming school girls charging towards a bus at 3.30pm would do that to anyone. But it wasn't a joyful experience for us.
We didn't have a special school bus, but had to use regular ones that went up the lane to our school at key times of the day - that was if drivers felt like stopping or letting anyone on board. We soon got used to buses driving straight past our bus stop if drivers weren't in the mood to stop, drivers saying there was not enough room for us on the bus - when the clearly was, sometimes making us all get off halfway through our journey because someone had stamped their feet, or refusing to move from a bus stop until that one person who had rung the bell got off.
We were often criticised by members of the public just because we stood near them or had the gall to ask them to move as we tried to get off the bus. I lost count of the times someone threatened to report us to the school.
We didn't trash buses, didn't push past women with children, heavy shopping or walking sticks, gave up our seats to those who needed them more and said excuse me when we wanted to get by.
Yes, we were loud, but we were teenagers, excited to be with friends, excited that we were driving past the local all boys' school and excited to be at the end of another school day. Even those girls at the back of the bus on that first day did nothing more than smoke a chain of cigarettes and look intimidating. There were much cooler places to be than on the bus and they wanted to get there as soon as they could.
There will always be those youngsters who make trouble, whether that's on a bus or walking the streets, and they will need to be dealt with. But I can't see how school bus journeys can ever really change.
As bus driver Norris says. "99% of the rest are OK. Just noisy."
So what was your school bus experience like? Tell us some of your stories.
