School transport: frustrated parents don’t know if their children can use bus service

The school term is well under way but many families in Kilmeen in west Co Cork still do not know if their children will be granted tickets for the school bus.

The rural community, located between Clonakilty, Dunmanway and Rosscarbery, is home to a national school with more than 120 pupils that traditionally feed students into secondary schools in Clonakilty.

Because many families in the area live slightly closer to Dunmanway or Rosscarbery as the crow flies, under ticket allocation rules they have struggled to qualify automatically for places on the school bus.

In previous years families have eventually managed to secure tickets after a nervous wait, but this year more than 25 children from more than a dozen families have yet to receive an indication as to whether they will qualify at all.

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Denis O’Donovan, a local parent, said the situation was causing unnecessary stress and worry. “We have two kids in secondary and they are worried about not having a bus ticket,” he said. “When my son found out he had no bus ticket this year, he was finding it hard to sleep, it’s placing undue worry on kids and parents.

“I got up at 6.20am today and did the lunches because my wife was working last night. You have to think about how you are going to work this. I had to be in Bantry for work at 9.30am so I had to tell them I’d be late. My clock doesn’t start until I clock-in, so it does affect me and then I’m physically trying to make up the time.”

‘By the time you do all the different drop-offs it’s another hour and a half, so it’s affecting their homework, dinner is delayed, everything and the children are tired’

Meave Dunne has children attending the local national school and secondary school in Clonakilty.

“We have been sharing the school run with another family,” she said. “They do the mornings, because with both of us working we have to be out of the house and at work at 8.30am, and it’s in the opposite direction to the school. If I was to be in Clonakilty to drop my son off, who is in first year, I’d have to be dropping him at 8am and you can’t have him hanging around for nearly an hour.”

‘Very stressful’

Ms Dunne says the increased driving is also having an impact on family life.

“By the time you do all the different drop-offs it’s another hour and a half, so it’s affecting their homework, dinner is delayed, everything and the children are tired,” she said. “Tomorrow morning my husband needs to go into the office early so we have to get somebody to look after the youngest two and drop them to national school because I can’t go to work late. It’s very stressful.”

Kevin Murphy has children doing the Junior Cert and Leaving Cert this year and said the uncertainty was causing them added stress.

“They don’t know if or when they will be able to get the bus. [Minister for Transport] Eamon Ryan is trying to promote greener transport and surely providing school buses is a no-brainer,” he said. “We are a short hop from the bus stop but we are half an hour to Clonakilty by car – it just makes no sense whatsoever. They just need to provide an extra bus.”

Peter O’Connell was also concerned about the environmental impact. “Many people have children in national and secondary school and they’ve got to get to work as well. They are now driving 12 miles into Clonakilty and trying to race back again and doing that twice a day. In Clonakilty then you have congestion, because you have 200 kids being dropped off by car who should be on the bus. It’s dangerous too, as well as the environmental concerns.”

Local Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan has organised a public meeting to address the issue to be held in the Clonakilty GAA hall at 7pm on Saturday but parents in Kilmeen have not been impressed with how the issue has been handled by the State so far.

Mr O’Donovan said: “They are making a big deal out of the free tickets but we were all registered and willing to pay for this service. But now we have no service. Children should not be penalised because of where they live. The whole system needs to be changed completely.”

‘Nobody to talk to’

Mr O’Connell said that getting information from Bus Éireann had so far proved difficult.

“There used to be a Cork number but now it’s an 01 number,” he said. “When you get through to them, they only know your application, they don’t know the route number the county number, how many people are on the route. You telephone Cork and you get transferred back up to Dublin, so there is nobody to talk to.”

‘We are spending a fortune of fuel and spending hours driving every day just to get our kids to the local school’

Ms Dunne said the lack of information was adding to the stress for families: “If you knew it was going to be going on for 10 days or whatever, if you had some sort of end in sight, you could deal with it but there is no end in sight. We are spending a fortune of fuel and spending hours driving every day just to get our kids to the local school.”

Mr O’Donovan said he did not believe a Government decision to waive school bus fees for this year, a measure aimed at helping families with living costs rising, was the reason for the shortage of places.

“It’s simple demand in the area. This has been going on for years and it’s not being addressed,” he said. “There is nobody extra trying to get the bus from Kilmeen because of the free tickets. They knew in April what the numbers would be but they have not provided the service that’s needed, it’s as simple as that.”

Bus Éireann said there had been unprecedented demand for the school transport scheme this year, with more than 122,000 tickets already issued. It said it had provided a new, dedicated contact number to deal with school transport queries (01-522 9991) and that queries could also be emailed to local school transport offices.

It said regular updates were also posted on the Bus Éireann website and social media channels and that families had received direct communication to advise them when their ticket has been issued. A family portal also provides details on the status of an application, where the application has been processed.

“If an application or ticket request has been submitted since the 29th July, these are deemed late and will be dealt with once all on-time applications have been processed. Seats will be allocated to late applicants where capacity exists on a route, but many school transport services are already operating at full capacity. We appreciate the patience and understanding of parents and students during this time.”