Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 November 2020
498. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education the supports in place for private bus operators who are providing school transport now that the 50% capacity rules are in place; and her plans to ensure that the additional cost for doubling the fleet is not borne on the operators themselves and then passed onto parents. [38247/20]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2019/2020 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over €219m in 2019.
The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.
Health advice received from NPHET on the 18th August impacted on the operation of post-primary school transport services. This advice stated that for secondary school students on school transport, strict distancing should be ensured in line with that on public transport along with the wearing of face coverings.
Based on the public health advice the Department has been planning for School Transport Scheme services for the 2020/2021 school year to fully operate, but with additional measures and hygiene requirements in place including the rolling implementation of measures on post-primary services as required to provide physical distancing which is using 50 per cent of passenger capacity. Government has agreed to provide the necessary funding to ensure that full implementation of the public health recommendation of running buses for post-primary children is achieved as quickly as possible on the post-primary scheme and on the special educational needs scheme for post-primary children.
Commercial contractors who provide transport for schools on a private hire or commercial basis but who are not contracted by Bus Éireann to operate on the Department’s School Transport Scheme do not fall under the remit of the Department of Education. However, the Department has reminded schools and other stakeholders that public health advice is best practice on these services also.
