Firm ‘might not be viable without €150m scheme’
BUS Éireann might not be able to survive without the €150m that it receives annually from the Department of Education to run the School Transport Scheme.
That’s one of the stark conclusions of a confidential consultancy report which was made public by the Irish Mail on Sunday last week.
The report, by UK consultants Steer Davies Gleave, confirmed the importance of the School Transport Scheme in propping up Bus Éireann’s finances.
‘Exiting schools operations would not make financial sense and could adversely impact on the efficiency and cost of maintenance of the remaining fleet,’ it reads.
The report concluded that without school transport, Bus Éireann’s other elements – the commercial Expressway and Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes – would be burdened with costs that are currently being shared.
‘If Bus Éireann was to exit school bus operations, it would be necessary to review the whole business, as most locations have a mixture of schools and service buses,’ the report reads.
‘Removing the schools element risks making PSO and Expressway more costly, as overheads will be no longer be shared.’
Bus Éireann maintains a fleet of 500 buses for school transport and tenders out hundreds of other school routes to private contractors.