I propose to take Questions Nos. 197 to 199, inclusive together.
The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 161,600 children, including over 135,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.
The total cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382.02m.
There has been an overall increase in both applications and tickets issued for the 2023/2024 school year in comparison to the 2022/2023 school year
The School Transport Scheme is an important service for families and children. The purpose of the 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. Under the current scheme, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school, and at post primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
A minimum number of 10 eligible children residing in a distinct locality, as determined by Bus Éireann, are required before consideration may be given to the establishment or retention of school transport services, provided this can be done within reasonable cost limits.
All school transport services are reviewed over the summer months. Arising from this review, routes may be altered, extended or withdrawn depending on the number and location of eligible children who will be availing of school transport for the following school year.
Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application process on time are accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation. In addition, temporary alleviation measures have been continued for the 2023/2024 school year, and mean that transport is provided where there is capacity to do so, for post-primary concessionary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school and are attending their second nearest school and who applied and paid on time.
Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who completed the application process on time, are considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats.
A review of the School Transport Scheme has been completed. This review was conducted with a view to examining the current scheme, its broader effectiveness, and sustainability and to ensure it services students and their families adequately.
The School Transport Scheme 2030 report has now been published, which marks the largest review of the School Transport Scheme since it was established in 1967. The Government is committed to working to achieve the report’s recommendation of expanding access to the scheme so that an additional 100,000 pupils can be carried by 2030. Throughout the review, the value of the School Transport Scheme to both families and in supporting wider Government policies has been very apparent. In summary, school transport not only plays an important part in supporting children's access to education, but it also aligns to wider Government objectives.
Overall, the recommended changes to the future operation of the Scheme concern:
• expansion of the current eligibility criteria,
• addressing current operational challenges
• charges and grants and
• over time, moving towards better integration with public transport to ensure optimum value for money to the Exchequer
With regard to the specific issues raised by the Deputy, firstly with regard to the cost of incorporating electric vehicles and other low emission vehicles into the school transport fleet, moves to lower emission fleet will be implemented in line with the Government’s targets as set out in the Climate Action Plan. The cost of moving to lower emission fleet will be subject to prevailing market conditions at the time. It is worth bearing in mind that circa 94% of the total school transport fleet is operated by private contractors under contract to Bus Éireann.
With regard to the estimated cost to Climate Action targets and other Government policies as considered in the review, an element of the costs to meet these is included in the total estimated cost to operate the scheme in future years. The estimated cost to operate the scheme out to 2030 is set out in the table below.
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Projected Annual Costs to the Exchequer for the School Transport Scheme with phases implementation of the Review.
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Year
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2024
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2025
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2026
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2027
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2028
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2029
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2030
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Total Estimated Funding requirements with Review and Other Costs
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€444,335,466
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€457,610,215
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€548,909,860
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€579,551,337
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€630,314,373
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€657,275,500
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€672,018,183
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It must be noted that there are certain assumptions and projections used in compiling these costs.
Finally with regard collaborations between my Department and Connecting Ireland, a phased implementation of the review’s recommendations will commence in September 2024. This will include a shared effort between my Department and the Department of Transport to pilot and introduce greater integration of the roll out of transport networks with school transport routes, with a view to expanding provision of transport and reducing the reliance over time on individual car trips for school journeys. This plan will be reviewed at the end of 2024 at which point further decisions will be made about future integration potential, including any further pilot projects.
It is intended subject to resources to commence implementing the revised eligibility criteria in the 2025/2026 school year.
