asked the Minister for Education the number of CIE buses, private buses, minibuses and other vehicles involved in the provision of free school transport in County Wexford in the current vear.
Ceisteanna—Questions, Oral Answers. - School Transport.
89.
In County Wexford 3,496 pupils have free transport to school in 20 CIE school buses, seven private buses and 46 private minibuses.
A further 249 pupils have free transport on CIE public bus and train services.
90.
asked the Minister for Education whether he will initiate a sample survey of school transport facilities designed to establish what proportion of children are collected more than two hours, one-and-half hours and one hour respectively before the time of school opening.
I would refer the Deputy to my reply of 11th December in relation to this matter. I am not satisfied that any useful purpose would be served by such a survey or that the time and effort involved would be warranted.
In view of the amount of money now being spent on school transport facilities throughout the country and the many anomalies that have developed in the system, would the Minister not agree that CIE, the private haul operators and the school managers would welcome some overall review of the present position to see how effective it is? I think it is time we had a look at the effectiveness of the school transport system. Certainly, in many urban areas it is quite chaotic as regards picking up pupils in time and getting them to school.
No, I would not agree that there is any necessity for such a survey.
We are spending £2½ million on this transport.
And it is improving every week.