'Anxiety and despair' as Laois families face fight for school bus places again

Parents of secondary school children in Emo and The Rock attending school in Mountmellick have lost out in a lottery for school bus places. 

When students return to school this week, at least four families who applied for concessionary tickets to travel on the school bus to Mountmellick Community School (MCS) were told they had been unsuccessful in the lottery, a local parents group said. 

“This bus service is less than ten months in existence and hence the need/ demand for seats has not been adequately determined during this duration,” they argued.  

“By not assessing the number of applicants, for at least a year of operation, the Government and Bus Eireann created a logjam, pitted classmate against classmate,” claimed a group spokesperson.  

“The families concerned were approved and had bus seats for their children last year, on this new service,”  the spokesperson added. 

The Parents Group is calling on Minister for Education, Norma Foley to revise established criteria for this particular case and resolve this situation to ensure that it is not repeated. They also asked that students who attain a bus ticket in their first year have it for the duration of their secondary school education. 

“There is a strong case for an additional bus service or bigger sized bus to be added - to cater for the children seeking to attend Mountmellick Community School. Quite simply, this particular school bus route of less than ten months in operation - needs a service to be provided for the demand,” they said.  

"You have to remember that these same families along with 27 other local families, went public last year - to fight an arduous yet successful campaign to get the school bus route (Emo/The Rock rural villages to Mountmellick) re-established, after over 20 years of no service on this route," claimed the spokesperson. 

The group welcomed the addition of the service and the difference it has made to their lives.

“We have managed to take over 100 car trips off Emo to Mountmelllick road every day. A huge impact on reducing carbon in a rural community, without having to place extra taxes on anybody,” they said.   

Although the bus was reinstated at end of October 2022 for the remainder of that school term, parents are now being notified that their children who had bus tickets last year - were being denied places this year. 

The group said its members are ‘enraged’ and asked how was it a fair and equitable system? 

“There is enormous anxiety and despair felt by the parents and pupils concerned, at a time when they should be relaxed after the summer break. These parents are frantic now trying to appeal the decision. Worry is also expressed by all other families depending on this particular bus service. They fear that, it could be any family (under the concessionary ticket system) in the same position next year,” the group added.  

The Parents of pupils attending Emo/The Rock to MCS School Transport Group say they are “determined to stand together and fight once again this year for a bus service that caters for all families in need of this bus service”.

In an email from Bus Eireann Athlone Regional Office last week, the parents group said a parent of one of the children who had lost out on a school bus ticket was informed that: “routes will not be extended or altered, additional vehicles will not be introduced, nor will larger vehicles or extra trips using existing vehicles be provided to cater for children travelling on a concessionary basis.”

They say Bus Éireann advised the parents that "your son/daughter is not eligible for transport to his/her chosen school" and that "concessionary spaces are not available as the service is at full capacity".

Bus Eireann administers the School Transport Scheme on behalf of the Department of Education. The guidelines of the Post Primary Scheme outline that in order to be considered eligible for school transport; pupils must reside not less than 4.8kms from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by the Department of Education/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who completed the application process on time, will be considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats. Due to the nature of concessionary transport for non-eligible children and the priority of providing places for eligible children, there may be an excess of demand over supply for concessionary places. In these cases Bus Éireann will allocate tickets for spare seats using a random selection process.

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“The Minister for Education constantly reiterates that school bus scheme is a demand led system. That in itself shows it good planning is possible, year to year. Universal school transport for all school-going children is ultimately required and it would move reduce traffic pinch points in towns like Mountmellick. Abolishing the distance criteria would be a first step towards universality that would reflect the realities of students and families. The Department of Education and the Government needs to step up here and provide places for every child,” the Parents Group spokesperson said.