Parent's Guide to Children Travelling to High School
As a new term approaches, Konectbus Norfolk is here to help make your child’s journey back to school easier and more affordable for your family throughout the next academic year.
Information for Parents
We offer two different types of school travel passes, depending on your family’s circumstances:
1. Council-funded travel pass: If you are eligible, your child’s travel will be provided at no cost to your family, and you will be notified directly by your local council.
2. Self-funded travel pass: If you are not eligible for a council-funded pass, you can purchase a travel pass directly from Konectbus for your child to use during the 2025/2026 academic year.
Whether your child receives a funded pass or you need to purchase their travel, their ticket will be issued through the Konectbus app. This means your child can carry it on their mobile phone, helping to prevent lost passes. Their ticket must be scanned each time they board the bus, so please remind them to keep their phone charged.
Please ensure that every child has the Konectbus (Norfolk) app installed on their phone (not yours). Their app ticket must be scanned when boarding, as this registers their travel with us.
Important: The Konectbus Norfolk app is not the same as the Konectbuses Essex and Suffolk app - tickets are not transferable between the two.
Parents will manage the purchase and renewal of their child’s tickets.
For the 2025/26 Academic Year
Annual and termly passes will be available to purchase from Thursday 31st July. These tickets allow you to pay upfront for your child’s travel for the entire school year.
Subscription tickets will be available from Friday 22nd August. These help spread the cost of school travel over the year, making it easier to budget household bills. As subscription tickets renew automatically each month, you can relax knowing your child’s travel is covered.
What Happens Next?
Funded Travel (via Norfolk County Council):
Entitled pupils in Norfolk will have their passes managed and distributed directly by Norfolk County Council. Please visit The Norfolk County Council Website for more information.
Tickets Gifted by Parents:
If you purchase a ticket and send it to your child as a gifted ticket, they will receive an email with a voucher code to redeem in the Redeem section of the app. Once redeemed, the ticket will be ready to use.
Activating and Using the Ticket:
Your child must activate their ticket in Mobile Tickets before boarding the bus. They will show the activated ticket to the driver and scan it. It’s best to activate the ticket at home, as an internet connection is required. Please ensure their phone is fully charged, as the driver can refuse travel if they do not have a valid ticket when boarding.
Managing Ticket Purchases and Subscriptions
You can manage your child’s ticket purchases and subscriptions through your parent account on the Konectbus website or app.
Student Ticket Verification
When you buy a student ticket, you’ll need to verify your child’s age before they can travel. Here are the steps to get your child verified:
Purchase your ticket, and then press 'GET VERIFIED'.
Select the ticket you wish to verify.
Upload a clear photo of official ID (Passport, Birth Certificate, Educational ID, or Acceptance Letter). Approval can take up to 24 hours, so please don’t leave this until the day they return to school.
Your child will need to upload a selfie to confirm their identity.
Subscription Tickets
To set up a subscription:
Log into your parent account on the Konectbus website, go to Buy Tickets, select the appropriate ticket type (e.g. 30-day ticket), choose Recurring Ticket, and select It’s a gift for someone else. Enter your child’s Konectbus app email address and complete payment. Your child will receive an email with a voucher code to redeem in the app.
This video has been made to reassure and guide the parents and carers of Year 6 pupils travelling to school by bus for the first time.
Managing Subscriptions
Subscriptions renew automatically; you can check your payment details in the My Account area of the Konectbus website. If a payment fails, Konectbus will retry before cancellation. To cancel, log in, go to Subscriptions, and click Cancel. Any active ticket will remain valid until its expiry date.
Please note: The monthly (30-day) payment renewal date is set by the date you purchase your subscription. For example, if you purchase on 1st September, your 11 direct debit payments will follow the same pattern each month. Similarly, if you purchase on 22nd August, your payments will renew every 30 days from that date.
Based on the current school calendar, your final ticket will cover all school days in July if you purchase your subscription as early as 22nd August 2025.
Other ticket types: Where subscription ticketing is unavailable, you can purchase termly or annual tickets and gift them in the same way. Single, return, weekly, and 30-day tickets may also be available. Click here to find the right ticket for your child.
Keeping Informed and Reassured
Set up personalised notifications:
Encourage your child to use the Service Updates section and enable Personalised Travel Notifications in the app settings for their regular routes, so they receive direct alerts about changes or delays.
You can also check the School Services section on the Konectbus website for general updates.
Tracking buses on the app:
Your child can track live bus locations using the app to stay informed about arrivals and delays.
Please use the website and app for the latest information before contacting our Customer Services team, as all service updates are published there first.
By following these steps, especially using subscription options, your child’s school travel with Konectbus can be reliable, straightforward, and budget-friendly.