Parents in Clare claim their daily routines have been thrown into disarray due to uncertainty with school bus services.
It comes as driver shortages have led to the cancellation of a number of Bus Eireann’s school routes in this county.
According to Bus Eireann, just 2% of all routes nationwide have been affected by acute driver shortages with contracted services in some localities.
Routes servicing Newmarket, Sixmilebridge and Ruan are reported to be among the early casualties as parents who have already purchased their school bus tickets for the coming year are scrambling to find alternative options.
However a parent in the South-East of the county believes the national provider’s retirement policy is unnecessarily compounding the problem.
The mandatory retirement age for Bus Eireann personnel is currently 70 years of age and any contractor taking on a Bus Eireann service has to comply with this regulation.
This means that if a school was to independently book the same contractor to provide transport for a match, the driver who could not bring the students to school under Bus Eireann rules in the morning, can transport the students in the afternoon.
Noelette Darcy whose daughter depends on the Cooleycasey service to get to school in Shannon, says the practice is placing a severe burden on the livelihood of all families concerned.
So far this year Bus Eireann has already issued 130,000 school transport tickets, up 21.5% on the figure recorded last year.
Bus Eireann has since set up an ‘Exceptional No Service Interim Grant’ which will compensate families affected by oversubscriptions and driver shortages.
However with many families now calling for larger busses on affected routes in this county and for new providers to come on stream, Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Joe Cooney has pledged to raise the matter with the Education Minister.
You can listen to the full interview below.
In response to a query from Clare FM, Bus Eireann issued the following statement
“The retirement age for school bus drivers has been set by Bus Éireann at 70 years of age, which also applies to road passenger services. This was previously 65, but was reviewed and extended a number of years ago.
Bus Éireann’s part-time school bus drivers and drivers nominated by private operators who operate services as part of the School Transport Scheme may continue to perform in the role provided they hold the requisite license and satisfy an annual medical examination until they retire at age 70. This policy and criteria is applied to all drivers who provide school transport services on behalf of Bus Éireann equally.
Bus Éireann’s Board has recently reviewed and confirmed the company’s policy.
With schools returning on a staged basis this week, Bus Éireann has now issued school transport tickets to 130,000 students travelling on mainstream services. 99% of tickets have now issued to those who applied and paid on time, that is 23,000 more tickets issued to date this year, compared with the same time last year.
Driver shortages are being experienced in many sectors of the economy and throughout the country.
In recent weeks, Bus Éireann issued tickets for mainstream school transport on bus services that had already been secured. Unfortunately, in recent days, a number of difficulties have arisen in some localities with a small number of contracted services. Very regrettably, in a small number of specific locations contractors have advised us that it has not yet been possible to provide vehicles / drivers in time for the start of the school year. While the situation is dynamic with solutions being found, currently this represents approximately 2% vehicles operating mainstream school transport services. Bus Éireann has contacted affected families directly and will maintain communications with them.
In the event that this period is unavoidably extended beyond the end of this week, further contact will be made with the families affected on Friday 1 September. This will be to ensure that an interim arrangement to assist with the cost of alternative arrangements for the families affected is accessible to those who need it. The Department of Education is currently in the process of establishing an “Exceptional No Service Interim Grant” which, will be based on the number of days children attend school and will be made available to the families. The grant is only available to the small number of families who have already received a school transport ticket from Bus Éireann, and where difficulties have meant that transport will not be in place for the start of the school year on 28th August. Bus Éireann have contacted these families directly. Families do not need to make an application for the exceptional payment, those who have been issued a ticket, and do not have a service in place will be contacted after 1 September 2023.
Work continues to resolve this matter and we are committed to providing transport to these students as quickly as is possible.”
