Foley to unveil expansion to school bus scheme

A SIGNIFICANT expansion of the school bus scheme is set to be unveiled by the Education Minister today.

Norma Foley will bring a memo to Cabinet to secure approval for the publication of the School Transport Scheme review.

The review identifies the importance of the school transport scheme, which carries 161,000 students, in supporting children’s access to education.

It also highlights the environmental benefits of the scheme in reducing the number of individual car journeys and lowering emissions.

The rules of the scheme will remain the same for the forthcoming 2024/2025 school year due to the current challenges securing additional buses and drivers in the tight labour market. However, there is set to be a commitment to eventually abolish the ‘nearest school’ rule by 2030.

In the interim, the review will recommend the phasing in of a series of changes that will reduce the distance rules.

Under the current rules, a primary school pupil must live at least 3.2km from their school to qualify for a bus place under the school transport scheme. This will go to 2km and then 1km, depending on funding.

A post-primary school pupil must live at least 4.8km from their school to qualify for a bus place under the school transport scheme. This will go to 2km, depending on funding. This will ‘significantly expand’ the number of pupils who qualify for the scheme, sources have indicated.

While there is an acknowledgement that the move will cost more for the State, no exact costings was put in proposal.

One figure with knowledge of the proposed changes said: ‘It is clear, it will increase the number on the scheme, there is no doubt. That’s the whole idea.’

‘You need to be able to get budget funding to pay for that.

‘It’s good from an environmental point of view and economic view in that it lets parents go to work and have their children brought to school. Making it bigger makes sense. That’s the background to it.

‘The genesis of the review was that most people on the scheme are happy with it, but many people aren’t eligible so they wanted to review that. That’s how it came about.’

Pilots are set to be rolled out in the next school year to ensure that the scheme will work as intended.

Prior to the cost of living crisis, the annual school transport scheme fees were €100 for primary pupils and €350 for secondary students and the cap was €650 per family.

Fees were waived for a year during the cost of living crisis and then brought in at a lower rate to reduce the problems of pupils claiming bus places but not using them.

The School Transport Scheme 2023-2024 fee for a primary school child is €50 and for a post-primary school child is €75. The maximum current fee for a family is €125.

This fee structure is now going to be kept in place for the 2024-2025 school year.