More than 120,000 passes now issued under new free school bus scheme

Bus Éireann said on Wednesday it had issued 121,000 bus passes to 130,000 children who had applied for the free school transport scheme.

The company, which operates the scheme for the Department of Education, also contacted families with 13,700 “refunds” and said that number is expected to grow as “the remainder will follow in the next week”.

The refunds are for parents who paid for tickets before the Government announced it was waiving fees for the coming school year.

The latest figures mean about 9,000 applicants, or 7 per cent of the total, are still waiting to hear if they have transport as classes restart amid unprecedented demand for the free scheme.

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Students are eligible for transport at primary level where their home is 3.2km or more from the nearest national school they are attending – and not less than 4.8km for secondary school.

Concessionary tickets were traditionally given to pupils who did not necessarily meet the criteria for the scheme – for example, those not attending the nearest school – where there was capacity on a bus route.

Families around the country who have paid for and relied on concessionary school bus seats for years are complaining that they are being forced to consider reducing work hours or giving up their jobs just to get their children to school after the surge in demand since the Government waived fees for a year.

Although trumpeted as a measure to address the cost-of-living crisis, many families say their costs will rise significantly since they have been refused a place on their local school bus.

In a statement, Bus Éireann said it “would like to acknowledge the unprecedented demand for the school transport scheme this year”.

“In response to increased demand, we have to date secured over 272 additional school transport vehicles and 116 services have had larger capacity vehicles added to the service, or the route extended,” a spokeswoman said.

“Additional call centre staff are currently being recruited to deal with the large volume of calls being received and we apologise to those who have had difficulties in speaking with us.”

Bus Éireann said it was continuing to “procure additional capacity for school transport services to cater for remaining pupils who meet the qualifying criteria of the scheme”.

The State company said it would also continue to provide school transport for children arriving in Ireland from Ukraine.

On Wednesday, it emerged that 11 Ukrainian first year secondary students were left standing at the side of the road in Co Wexford waiting for a bus on their first day of school. Rachel O’Connor, principal of Ramsgrange Community school, said she was horrified at the “heart wrenching” image of the children, one of them with a bunch of flowers for her.

Some 44 Ukrainian students enrolled in the school live in a former holiday village in Hook Head. Thirty three of the students have been attending since last Easter with 11 due to commence in first year this week. Ms O’Connor said staff only noticed the 11 students missing when they did a head count of the first years.

Bus Éireann said it is working with the Department of Education to provide transport solutions for families involved.

“Services will be made available as soon as resource are available,” the spokeswoman said.

“For safety reasons only children who have applied for school transport may travel on that transport. If seats are available on an existing service/route, these seats will be offered to the child/children.

“Where such seats are available the host family will be contacted and advised that a ticket will be issued.

“Bus Éireann will make every effort to ensure school transport services are up and running as they are required. However, given the ongoing movement and arrival of families, it may in some cases take some time to arrange services for families as information becomes available for those who require school transport.”