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Bus Éireann says it is working “intensively” to secure school transport and issue tickets to all eligible students who paid on time.
The transport company, which operates the scheme on behalf of the Department of Education, has issued more than 93,000 bus tickets for the new school year, of which 70,000 went to students who meet criteria that makes them eligible for a place, according to a spokeswoman.
Remaining eligible students have been issued with an email pending receipt of their ticket, she said.
School transport services, which recommenced on Thursday, are continuing to operate at 50 per cent capacity at post-primary level, which is proving a “challenge” in some areas where there is limited driver or vehicle availability, the spokeswoman said.
“The Bus Éireann school transport team is continuing to work intensively across 11 offices on securing transport and issuing tickets to all eligible pupils who paid on time,” she said. “Places are also being allocated to concessionary pupils who applied within the application process timelines and where capacity exists.”
Distances
The school transport system is available to primary school children travelling to their nearest or second-nearest school which is more than 3.2km away and to secondary school pupils living more than 4.8km away from their school.
The spokeswoman said the State-run company is upfront that concessionary - or paid-for - seats are “not guaranteed from one year to the next”. She said concessionary capacity varies each year, with seats only available after eligible students have been awarded places.
The statement comes after parents reported receiving rejection emails days before their child was due to return to school, despite having initially applied for seats last month.
Roscommon-Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice said he had been “inundated” with calls from parents in recent days who have been “left in the lurch with time running out to find alternative arrangements”.
Many of these parents had paid for tickets before the deadline, but they are now being offered refunds, he said.
Mr Fitzmaurice argued that concessionary ticket holders who availed of school transport in the past should not be “abandoned” this year.
Sinn Féin’s transport spokesman Darren O’Rourke called on the Minister for Education to add capacity to the school transport system to meet the demand.
“Every year demand outstrips supply… by tens of thousands,” he said.
Desperate parents
Mr O’Rourke said Sinn Féin TDs had been contacted by “hundreds” of parents in recent days who are “desperate” to get a bus seat for their child.
“Many parents rely on the school transport system to balance their work commitments or family caring needs…. The situation is worse than any other year,” he said.
While Bus Éireann operates the system, 86 per cent of staff and buses are subcontracted locally. The service requires more than 6,800 vehicles to serve its 9,000 dedicated routes.
In the last school year, more than 114,100 children, including 14,700 children with special education needs, availed of the service at a cost of some €224.7 million.
Over the summer, Bus Éireann issued €4.7 million in refunds to 40,000 families to compensate them for school closures earlier this year.