Every day across America 500,000 yellow buses weave their way from street to street, carrying 25 million pupils to and from school.

The high-visibility colour was decided in 1939 and since then the buses have become an unqualified success and an American icon, with the buses said to enjoy a safety record unequalled within the transportation industry.

Aberdeen-based First Group will soon own 63,000 of the American fleet and it is looking at the possibility of trying to transport the success story across the Atlantic.

At its annual general meeting in Aberdeen yesterday, it revealed new research which shows that 86% of British parents would like to send their children to school in dedicated, US-style, school buses.

As a result, First Group also announced plans to establish a Yellow School Bus Commission to review the use of the iconic yellow school buses in the UK, under the chairmanship of David Blunkett MP. It will examine and quantify the benefits of US-style home-to-school transport and review the yellow school bus model in the US along with similar schemes already being operated in the UK.

It will also examine ways of encouraging the use of the scheme here. Other members of the commission, still to be appointed, will bring experience of education, transport and the environment.

The research project on yellow buses, involving 1500 parents, was carried out by parenting website www.raisingkids.co.uk.

It found 38.7% of primary school children - almost four times more than their parents' generation - and 21% of secondary school children, more than three times their parents' generation, were taken to school by car. The survey also found 86% of parents would be willing to send their children to school on a dedicated school bus.

ROLL UP: Pupils from Robert Gordon's College, in Aberdeen, get off their new brightly coloured bus yesterday. Picture: Donald Stewart

Moir Lockhead, chief executive of First Group, said he was personally convinced that yellow buses were the future for school transport in Scotland. "Our own experience of operating yellow school bus schemes both in the UK and in North America shows that this is a tried and tested way of delivering a high quality, safe and reliable home to school transport system. The schemes deliver benefits to a wide range of groups and offer a win-win situation for everyone involved. The buses are popular with children, who recognise them from American films and TV and enjoy travelling in them, and with parents and teachers, who value the quality and security of service they provide.

"There's a huge concern among parents about the environmental damage that is contributed to by the school run and an appetite to use school buses. Over 50% of children in North America travel to school in yellow buses, around 10 times the amount in the UK, and there's no reason we should not aim for that sort of figure on this side of the Atlantic."

He said the UK pilot schemes had proved very successful but that a recent evaluation by the Department of Transport had been inconclusive and the intention was for the commission to answer the unanswered questions.

The pilots had been funded in different ways, with one paid for jointly by parents, the local authority and businesses keen to see congestion eased.

"The kids think they are cool, the parents think it is brilliant because it is a secure door-to-door service, truancy levels in those trial areas have fallen dramatically and the schools like them," Mr Lockhead said.

However, he added: "For the system to work we would have to get the economics right and the commission can look at that. The cost of a bus in the US is $55,000 (£27,000) and to produce the same bus to European standards is more than double that."

He said they would shortly be buying 4000 or 5000 new buses a year in the US and he believed they could use that to reach a better deal for the UK market.

Councils in Scotland spend tens of millions of pounds a year ferrying children to and from school in taxis. They break into two main categories: those with disabilities or behavioural issues who cannot travel in a school bus; and those living in rural areas with no bus connections and where it is cheaper to use cabs.

Aberdeen City Council, where the US-style buses have been piloted, spends on average £2m a year on taxis for schoolchildren. The current total of children using taxis in the city is 629.

In the US, the yellow buses also take pupils on outings. The commission will look at how that could be achieved in the UK.

At least two-thirds of the fleet in America is wheelchair-accessible and all new stock would be built to accommodate disabled passengers.

Mr Lockhead said he wanted to understand exactly what happens now, where there are gaps and what would encourage parents to shift to a dedicated school bus.

"What would be the one thing, if you were taking a child to school, which would give you to trust in the system to hand over that child?" he said. "I have grandchildren and I would want to know it was safe and secure."

The 13 pilot yellow bus schemes running across the UK carry 8000 pupils a day on 185 buses.

One of the first was at the Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen.

It started with a single yellow bus carrying pupils in from the Peterculter areas of the city.

It was so successful that yellow buses, funded by the school and parents, also run from Westhill and Ellon, carrying around 100 pupils in each morning.

Bob Leggate, school bursar, said at the request of parents they were constantly assessing the possibility of further routes. A more limited service is run after school because many pupils are involved in extra-curricular activities and demand was reduced.

He said: "The yellow buses reduce congestion in the city centre. If we can take 80 or 100 vehicles off the morning school run, it is beneficial not just to other parents but to other commuters.

"I think the pupils enjoy it and they like to get in early to see their pals and have time in the playground before the school days starts. The visibility of the yellow bus makes it a safer option, too."

Mr Blunkett said: "Yellow school buses offer a range of valuable benefits: providing a safe and high-quality means of carrying children to and from school; relieving congestion from our increasingly crowded towns and cities; and consequently making a real contribution to reducing our impact on the environment and climate change.

"With such powerful features in their favour we owe it to society to evaluate the best ways of delivering this sort of service and making recommendations on how we provide incentives to schools and local authorities to do so."