Michael Ring
Question:521. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Education when bus tickets will issue to siblings (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54271/22]
View answerTuesday, 8 November 2022
Questions (521)
Written answers
The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the last school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €289m in 2021.
In July 2022, Government announced funding for the waiving of school transport scheme fees for the coming school year as part of a wider package of cost of living measures.
Ticket registration for the 2022/23 school year closed on 29 July by which time almost 130,000 applications/registrations were received for mainstream school transport. This figure includes 44,299 new applications as well as roll-overs from the previous school year.
Bus Éireann has advised that the pupil(s) referred to by the Deputy are eligible for school transport under the terms of the scheme but were unsuccessful in obtaining seats on board a school transport service for the 2022/23 school year as they did not complete the ticket registration process by the closing date of 29 July.
Some families may prefer to drop or collect their children from school for a period of time. This may continue on odd days throughout the school year too, based on the family circumstances or school absences for a variety of reasons.
It is recognised that all pupils issued with tickets will not travel every morning and every evening. In addition, certain after school activities may also result in pupils not travelling on certain days.
Bus Éireann organises for vehicles to be full to capacity with tickets based on applications received and based on the seating capacity of the vehicle. For safety reasons, it is not possible to issue additional tickets over and above the seating capacity of the vehicle which could result in a potential overload situation arising and all pupils not being carried on the service.
Bus Éireann has advised that all existing services in this area are currently operating at capacity, however, their Local Office is currently assessing school transport routes and if seats become available, the family referred to by the Deputy will be contacted directly by their Local Office.