Travel is currently free for long-distance school bus journeys

Education Secretary Charles Clarke said the draft laws were part of plans to give local councils as much freedom as possible to draw up their own plans.

He told MPs there would initially be 20 pilot schemes in England and Wales.

The plans would be a success if they halted the rise in cars being used for school runs, said Mr Clarke.

The share of children travelling to school by car has doubled over the last 20 years.

"It would be a great achievement to flatten it (car usage to schools) out and an even greater achievement would be in reducing it," said Mr Clarke.

Money raised from new charges would help widen access to buses, the government has said.

Green benefits

Mr Clarke was giving evidence about school transport plans to the Commons transport select committee.

A draft school transport Bill was announced in the Queen's Speech, when the government said it would allow councils to charge "those who can afford to pay".

Currently, all children living more than three miles away from their schools are entitled to free transport, with the distance set at two miles for children aged under-eight.

We would not approve any scheme which would mean more people using cars Charles Clarke Education Secretary

Mr Clarke said the Bill should be published very soon. The plans were not likely to become law until the next Parliament, he said. But if there was consensus, he would push for them to be enacted earlier.

"If we are able to focus more effectively on the journey from home to school this would have substantial environmental, health and other benefits," said Mr Clarke.

The legislation would be short and give local councils the flexibility to find better ways of providing the best school run transport.

Local freedom

Teaching unions have warned the proposals could cause a rural revolt and worries about those on the borderlines.

Mr Clarke said all those entitled to free school meals would also be able to get free transport.

And he acknowledged the pilot schemes might have to address the problem of people failing to register for free school meals despite being entitled to them.

Clarke is worried about transport for children with special needs

He was challenged by the MPs about whether the plans could encourage more, not less, car use.

None of the pilot schemes would get the green light if they meant more people used cars for school runs.

The education secretary said he expected a real debate on how much constraint was put on what councils could try.

But the number of limits should be kept down so local communities decided what was best for their areas, he argued.

Special needs worries

Mr Clarke rejected suggestions that local authorities could not afford to run more schemes, saying better value for money could be attained.

Where charges were used, fares would be set after local consultation, he said, highlighting research in Wiltshire suggesting parents would pay �1 per journey for better school transport.

In 2001-2, local education authorities spent �575m on home-to-school transport, with 40-50% of it on children with special needs.

The minister said there was a "massive use" of various different forms of transport for children with special needs, "which I am not persuaded is either educationally beneficial or efficient".

Social services, local education authorities and health boards needed to work closer together on the issue, he suggested.