Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 March 2014
107. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the details of any cost-benefit analysis undertaken by his Department regarding the payment of fees by parents for school transport, particularly with regard to having a monthly payment option, since 2007. [10880/14]
View answerI refer to my previous reply to the Deputy regarding this issue. No cost benefit analysis has been undertaken in relation to a monthly payment system for school transport. The scale of the School Transport Scheme, transporting some 114,000 children every school day on some 6,000 school transport routes utilising some 4,000 vehicles every school day makes it the largest public transport operation in the State. Consequently, the feasibility of allowing a monthly payment option would have to be considered in light of the size of the integrated school transport network.It makes sense that such an arrangement would significantly increase the administration costs involved given the significant increase in the number of invoices, payments and tickets that would need to be processed over the course of a school year. In addition, Bus Éireann advise that monthly ticketing would mean that services would have to be checked every month to ensure that several thousand children are travelling with valid tickets, demanding potentially greater supervision and follow-up activity from an administrative perspective, with added cost implications. The current arrangements ensure that school transport services are utilised in an efficient and cost effective manner.
