Ruralkidslosing schooltransportin busseat‘ lottery’
THERE’S been a call for the Department of Education to change the parameters of distance to the nearest school which is resulting in dozens of schoolchildren losing seats on their local school bus.
Parents around the county are having to organise car pools to get their children to school in September after Bus Eireann removed them from school buses.
Bus Eireann resorted to using a “computerised random selection” process to decide who gets a seat on buses due to high demand.
Pupils are eligible for a seat on a school bus if they live more than 4.8km from and are attending their nearest school.
If they’re not eligible, i. e. if they’re going to a school which is not closest to them out of their own choice, they are granted a “concessionary” seat but are not guaranteed a seat.
If there are more people looking for concessionary seats than they have, their names go into a draw to see who gets a seat.
Parents were told by Bus Eireann that “As there is a high