Road to nowhere

Minister for Education, Norma Foley, announced the funding measure to address the 50% reduction in places available to transport pupils to Post Primary schools.

The decision to pay parents of second-level pupils €25.50 a week to drive their children to school because of space restrictions has been described as a short-sighted solution one local bus operator has claimed.

Minister for Education, Norma Foley, announced the funding measure to address the 50% reduction in places available to transport pupils to Post Primary schools. The parents of pupils who can’t take up their place on school bus because of social distancing rules are eligible for the payment.

“There is no doubt about it, it's an absolute nightmare. Not only for me, but for every operator and for parents in general,” transport service provider Kevin Fay is dismayed at the manner in which the rules have been changed with just days to go before young people return to school.

Four days ago Kevin, a local bus company owner, was optimistic about getting back on the road and ferrying the students to schools.

Speaking to The Celt at the time he outlined the precautions to be taken including pre-assigned seating to ensure that children sat beside siblings or class mates, additional hygiene and the significant investment in cleaning equipment that would make all the buses he operates as safe as possible.

Fast-forward to Monday August 24 and the playing field has been radically altered for parents, students and transport operators.

Bus Éireann operates the School Transport Scheme on behalf of the Department of Education. They say planning and organisation for resumption of services is “ongoing”.

In a statement to this paper they added: “Bus Éireann has been working closely with the Department of Education to ensure the safe operation of the school transport service when schools reopen.”

Measures agreed included pre-assigned seating, hygiene and cleaning measures, and the wearing of face coverings for children over the age of 13 years of age (with the exception of children who for medical or special educational needs are not in a position to do so).

Following consideration of recommendations and advice from NPHET last Thursday, the Government decided the arrangements made for the primary school transport scheme will proceed as planned and services will operate fully and as normal with additional measures and hygiene requirements in place.

However the post-primary scheme commences operations next week with the implementation of measures to provide physical distancing on the post-primary buses as required.

The Bus Éireann statement says: “The Department of Education and Bus Éireann will continue to communicate with parents/guardians, contractors and drivers on the operation of services for the upcoming school year.”

Providing “physical distancing on the post-primary buses” is the crux of the matter.

“It's an awful situation,” Kevin says, “I relied on the government and NPHET for clear guidance for starting back to school. Thursday evening changed everything. I had all my buses full, I have to go back and talk to all of the parents and tell them I have no seat for their child starting this year.”

Deciding on who can avail of the service is a quandary for the bus operator: “All I can do this year is refuse everybody that looked for a seat for September for the schools in Cavan. It will be a phased in process and I will work toward it.”

Minister Foley's announcement that parents of second-level pupils who can’t take up their place on school bus because of social distancing rules will get up to €5.10 a day to pay for alternative travel arrangements.

“That is only for children who are entitled to have a seat on the bus, it's not for every child in the country,” Kevin explains, “It's a notorious mess, and I am sick to the teeth about the whole lot of it. I'm not sleeping at night with the turmoil the whole thing has caused.”

“Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming NPHET, but it's an awful pity they could not have thrown this out to us. There is only a week before the students are back at school,” he said.

“When the schools open up in September the town will be awash with cars. Buses will be going around half full of people and throwing out the same emissions. The Green Party are part of the government and they promised a new green way. It's an awful scenario,” Kevin further laments.

Michael Leydon and his brother Martin operate a private bus company in West Cavan.

Though they do not have a Bus Éirennn contract they accommodate a number of third level Cavan Institute students as well as second level pupils ineligible for the State service.

The regulations in place have increased the running costs of the firm.

“Because we are a scheduled service we have to implement social distancing. On a bus that carries 40 people we can only fit 20. When the IT starts back we will have to put on a second bus to cover the rout,” Michael explained.

“It's a difficult time. During the lockdown we reduced he service, but now we are back to doing what we always done. You would hope that once the schools go back people will start to travel a bit more,” the bus operator said.

Minister Foley says she will continue to work with the Minister for Health and other Government Ministers to identify and consider the additional resources required to support the rollout of the measures.