THE decision by the city council to reverse the removal of free school bus passes for more than 1000 pupils is the right one.

The plan caused anger across the city with parents highlighting some routes were not safe and didn’t feel happy letting their children walk along very busy roads in some cases.

It is the first major decision taken by the new leadership of Frank McAveety and it shows he is willing to listen and in particular his comment about taking the decision on an educational basis and not purely on cost is welcome.

Glasgow has improved its school estate in recent years and part of that restructuring of education involved closing schools with falling rolls and some pupils having to travel further to get to school

The city is beginning to show some promising signs of improvement in attainment with more pupils achieving exam passes in their final years.

In the poorer areas, however, results remain stubbornly low and every effort needs to be made to ensure pupils get every opportunity to benefit from education.

Making sure they are able to get to school safely is just one such consideration.

The cost element would have been a difficulty for some parents and if they do not think the route is safe and have no money for the fare some days then attendance could suffer.

This is one decision where the pupil’s needs had to come first.