Jess Casey: Soaring demand for school transport leaves thousands stranded

Families facing difficulty securing tickets for their children

Demand for school transport is up this year, following moves to waive fees as a response to the cost-of-living crisis. Picture: Mark Stedman/RollingNews.ie

Nigella Gleeson has used school transport for her children since she moved to their home in the Mallow area in Cork in 2017.

In September, her eldest started secondary school. At the beginning of February, Nigella submitted their application online to Bus Éireann for the current school year, applying with her usual email.

This is a Rocketmail address, a subsidiary of Yahoo. Over the summer, Ms Gleeson logged back in to double check if she had updated her eldest ticket to ‘post primary’, saw that she had, and thought no more about it. That was until the week before school, and she still had no news.

Logging back online, she could see a note, something about “requesting a ticket”. Confused, because she had applied in February, she called the helpline. 

“I was told that no, in fact, we wouldn't get a ticket because I hadn't requested a ticket.”

According to Ms Gleeson, the rep she got on the phone “knew immediately” her issues stemmed from a security issue affecting Yahoo emails. 

She was told she would be considered a "late request" and as such, only eligible for a concessionary ticket if seats were available.

Since that point, she has continued to contact the helpline and contacts three local TDs and a local councillor on a regular basis. She has gone on to the radio to highlight their case and lodged appeals and complaints with Bus Éireann, the Department of Education, and the Ombudsman for Children.

Living 15km from the nearest secondary school, and without a bus ticket or any other public transport options, she has no choice but to drive. 

In order to drop her eldest on time, she also has to put her three younger children, all of whom are under 10, into the car at 8am, an hour before their own bus service comes. They eat breakfast on the move and, all going to plan, she arrives back with the three youngest children just in time for their own bus.

Pick-up is also a nightmare. 

I am absolutely exhausted. It has taken its toll on all of us, our routine is all over the place, our mealtimes are disrupted, the diesel is costing a fortune.”

Ms Gleeson is not alone in facing difficulties with school transport this year. Thousands of families faced difficulty securing tickets, and many still are. In Meath on Tuesday morning, parents and their children walked 17km along country roads to highlight how many children are still without a bus. 

Issues with school transport are not new. However, demand is up this year, following moves to waive fees as a response to the cost-of-living crisis. 

Some funding was secured in Budget 2023, which will allow officials in the Department of Education along with Bus Éireann "to consider and evaluate where temporary additional capacity may be available". 

The initial focus will be where families applied on time and previously held concessionary tickets. Concessionary tickets are granted usually to students who do not meet the eligibility criteria on the basis that seats are available. 

A spokeswoman for Bus Éireann said it acknowledged the "unprecedented demand" for tickets this year. Almost 130,000 applications had been received by the time the online registration closed during the summer. 

Many parents who contacted the Irish Examiner in recent weeks cite issues with communication, concessionary tickets, and appeals. 

One parent said: 

We're stuck in school traffic for up to an hour in the morning especially, to bring the kids five miles to school. It's really galling to have to run the car twice a day, driving alongside the school bus which is approximately three-quarters full."

Any TD in a rural constituency will tell you they receive a large influx of queries into their constituency offices from families regarding school transport on a regular basis. 

Labour TD for Cork East Seán Sherlock said the system has been broken for a number of years. The annual scramble for tickets, based on a concessionary model that is "outdated and inequitable", was made even more "unedifying" this year with the free fees proposal, he believes. 

"Instead of building confidence and encouraging use, it kicked families off buses that they had used for years. The minister constantly reiterates that it is a demand-led system. That in itself shows that it is planable year to year. If you want a seat, and you pay for a seat, you should get a seat.

"Universal school transport, coupled with free bus transport for all school-going children, would have been a radical move that could have reduced traffic pinch points in towns like Mallow and Fermoy and Midleton and can also help in suburban villages in Cork, Limerick and Waterford and other urban conurbations. 

Abolishing the distance criteria would be the first step towards universality that would reflect the realities of students and families."

The school transport scheme is currently under review, and how it operates, its effectiveness, sustainability, and provision of services is all being examined. 

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"The final phase of the review is expected to be completed in the coming months, with recommendations on the future operation of the department’s School Transport Scheme,” a spokesman for the department said.