Peter Burke
Question:293. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Education if she will provide an update on the status of school transport for a school pupil (details supplied). [41627/23]
View answerTuesday, 26 September 2023
Questions (293)
Written answers
The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.
In addition, school transport scheme services were provided for over 5,400 children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.
The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9m.
Already over 133,000 tickets have issued for the 2023/2024 school year which is an increase of 12% when compared with the beginning of the 2022/2023 school year. This number of tickets has already exceeded the total number of tickets issued in the 2022/23 school year.
Bus Éireann has advised that there is currently no application on the system for the child to which the Deputy refers.
If families have any queries, Bus Éireann has a dedicated customer care call centre: LoCall 0818 919 910 which operates from 9.00am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday. Families can also submit queries via the 'contact form' which can be found on our website (buseireann.ie/schooltransport).