US-style school buses have been successful in West Yorkshire

In a visit to Guildford, Surrey, party leader David Cameron said school buses should be safe, clean and reliable, to be an "attractive alternative" to cars.

He said just six per cent of children in the UK go to school on a school bus.

The government's Education and Inspections Bill gives English local authorities a duty to prepare a sustainable school transport strategy.

'Reliable alternative'

He said: "If you make it an attractive alternative then people will be quite happy to get out of their cars.

"But I know what it's like - you know as a parent you're worried about your children.

"You want to know it's a good, safe, clean, reliable alternative. Provide that and you can actually reduce congestion on the roads.

"In America, 50% of children go to school on a school bus. In this country, it's just 6%.

"There's far more that we can do and it's a really exciting agenda and one that I'm determined that the Conservative party is going to pursue."

Strategy

Mr Cameron later announced he was launching a working group on school buses.

The group, made up of Tory parliamentary spokesmen on transport and education and councillors, will look at how a Conservative strategy on school transport provision could cut congestion and help the environment.

In a policy document, the Tory leader said the party would aim to provide "a much better range of choices for parents" who currently drive their children to school.

Education charity The Sutton Trust has called for US-style school buses to be introduced across England to improve pupil safety and ease traffic congestion.

In a report last year it said that a service costing taxpayers �124m a year would reduce the 40 deaths and 900 serious injuries caused annually by the school run.

Wider choice

Yellow buses are being used in various parts of the UK, including an �18.7m scheme in West Yorkshire.

There, one bus cut 25,000 car journeys a year in the Hebden Bridge area.

The government's education bill places a duty on local authorities to provide free transport to pupils from low income families to attend any of three suitable secondary schools closest to their home, where these schools are more than two and less than six miles away.

It also enables a small number of "pathfinder" local authorities to develop school travel schemes.

They can also try transport arrangements that support a wider choice and address the problems faced in rural authorities - for example by using yellow buses.

Public transport

The Department for Education pointed out that about 54% of primary school pupils and 32% of secondary school pupils travelled to school by either school bus or public transport.

The Liberal Democrats' Sarah Teather said: "With the school run now accounting for 20% of rush-hour traffic, there is an urgent need for government action. Why has it taken new Labour six years to act on its own report?

"There are almost a million children driven less than a mile to school - no wonder obesity levels among six-year-olds have doubled to nearly one in 10.