BATTLE FOR SCHOOL BUS SEATS
SHORTAGE OF SCHOOL BUS PLACES IS SOURCE OF CONCERN
THE lack of seats on school buses has become a major concern for many parents in Wexford, who may be left with no option but to drive their children to and from school.
Approximately 3,854 applications from Wexford were made to Bus Éireann for places on their school buses for the upcoming year. However, not all of these children will be allocated places, as recently discovered by several worried parents who paid the €350 fee in recent months. Mother of four Michelle Ruane recently received a letter from the bus company to inform her that her application was not successful.
‘My eldest is about to start school in Loreto in Wexford. A lot of people told me to pay as soon as possible so I did but I got a bit worried at that stage,’ said the Caroreigh native. ‘I got a letter last week to say that the bus had been filled and that they would refund the €350 to my account as soon as possible. I don’t want the money back though. I want my daughter on the bus.’
Michelle said that the situation has made life ‘very difficult’ for her and her family, particularly as she works part-time and minds children.
‘I don’t know how I am going to manage with Jessica in school in Wexford. I’m going to ring Bus Éireann and make an issue of it but I don’t see how they will make another space,’ she said. ‘It’s hard enough to get school places without then having to fight for a bus service too. And it’s all left until the last minute. I only found out two weeks before school starts.’
Ellen Nolan from Camross has also been unable to get a place for her son on the school bus to St Peter’s in Wexford.
‘I was shocked to be honest. I presumed that I would get it. You don’t expect that when you are willing to pay for a service, your child won’t get on the bus,’ she said. ‘I’m one of the luckier ones as I’m not working but as my mother wasn’t well over the last few months, it would be much easier to run down the road and drop my son to the bus stop.’
‘It is going to be double the work as my daughter has to be in primary school for 9.15 a.m. This will mean I have to do two runs.’
Another mother from Barntown said it was a ‘nightmare’ trying to get her children on the school bus.
‘I have two children in secondary school and have never had a problem before now,’ she said. ‘ They are going to Pres in Wexford which is not their allocated secondary school meaning that places on the bus are concessionary and not eligible. However, everyone on the bus is concessionary because there is no bus that goes to the school in our area.’
Following a call to Bus Éireann, the mother managed to secure seats for her daughters on the bus from Taghmon.
‘My girls are ok now but you just don’t know,’ she said. ‘Ideally I would have gotten them on the bus they have been getting for the last three years. I have to bring them a mile down the road now to get to the stop. It’s a very dangerous road so they can’t walk to and from it.’
Though Sarah Doran from Ballingale managed to get her children places on the school bus, she said it is ‘utterly ridiculous’ that others are having difficulty.
‘I’m utterly speechless that you can’t get a bus to school. Some can and some can’t,’ she said. ‘Right now it’s fine for me but it might not be the case next year.’
‘It’s going to be a worry for every single parent who needs to get their child to school.’
A spokesperson for Bus Éireann said that arrangements are still being finalised and they are trying to accommodate as many as possible. They were unable to say at time of writing how many of the 3,854 applicants will be allocated spaces. However, they also said that they have increased the number of seats available in Wexford for the upcoming year by upgrading medium buses to large capacity buses and introducing a new minibus. They have also recently increased the number of concessionary tickets issued. In 2011, there were 199 concessionary tickets issued in Wexford while this rose to 1,349 in 2015.