With schools set for a return in the coming weeks, the school bus ticket issue is rearing its head again.
A local Dad got confirmation by email last week that his family are not getting concessionary tickets this year even though they did last year.
Richie Grant from Ballyhale says his four children have been excluded along with several others.
He told KCLR Live earlier “There’s 17 pupils off this year now in Ballyhale National School and quite a few of them have been off before in 2019, 2020, I dont know what way Bus Éireann do this so-called ‘lucky dip’ draw but there are pupils that haven’t been off at all, there’s a lot of unfairness in the situation, it’s very vague, people don’t really know what’s going on”.
Meanwhile, Bus Éireann has issued the following statement:
“Bus Éireann operates the School Transport scheme on behalf of the Department of Education and carries more than 114,500 children to and from schools on a daily basis on over 7,000 dedicated school transport routes.
“For background, students are eligible for School Transport where they reside not less than 3.2 km at primary and 4.8 km at post-primary from their nearest school/education centre as determined by the Department of Education and Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. Distance eligibility is determined by Bus Éireann by measuring the shortest traversable route from the child’s home to the relevant education centre.
“Following the payment closing date of 31 July we are currently processing all applications/payments to determine capacity requirements on individual routes. Tickets for school transport services will be issued in the coming days and weeks. Parents will receive a notification by email when their ticket has been processed for printing and the ticket will be sent via post. All children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application and payment process on time will be accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation. Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis and are offered seats where capacity exists after all eligible children have been catered for. A refund will be issued to those pupils who do not secure a seat for the forthcoming school year”.
