Vol. 502 No. 6
302 Mr. O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the lack of an organised urban school bus system is the single biggest factor contributing to rush hours traffic in the major cities; and if he will organise an urban school bus system on the same fee-paying basis as applies in rural areas but open to all school children living over one mile from the school they attend. [8838/99]
The school transport scheme was designed to provide a basic level of service for children in rural areas who, if living a long distance from their nearest school, might have difficulty in attending regularly. My Department strives to maintain this basic level of service, while at the same time achieving optimum value from scarce resources. However, the cost of the scheme increases each year, with rising operational costs and constant demand for the extension of existing routes and the establishment of new services.
My Department has no transport arrangements in place where suitable public scheduled services already exist. In urban areas schools are closer to pupils' homes and accordingly, fewer pupils qualify for transport under the terms of the scheme. Where pupils in cities are eligible under the terms of the scheme and reside within the range of public scheduled transport, they are issued with term tickets on those services.
The organisation of public scheduled services outside of Dublin is a matter for Bus Eireann, and for Bus Átha Cliath in the Dublin area.
To operate an urban school bus system for all pupils more than one mile from the school they attend would require a complete revision of school transport scheme. It would also have massive cost implications for the State and I have no plans to implement such a proposal.
