*A public meeting took place in Cratloe on Monday.
A FORMAL COMPLAINT has been issued to Bus Éireann and the Department of Education following the cancellation of three routes in South-East Clare.
Driver shortages have been cited by Bus Éireann in their decision to cancel different school routes across Co Clare.
Two percent of all routes nationwide have been impacted by acute driver shortages. Falling into this category is service E283 from Cratloe and Sixmilebridge to Shannon along with routes from Newmarket-on-Fergus and Ruan despite parents already having purchased school bus tickets for the current academic year. In total, six school transport routes in Co Clare are impacted.
On Tuesday last, three bus routes in the county were cancelled before the return of schools on Wednesday morning. “One such route covers Cratloe and Sixmilebridge to Shannon which is the route my daughter and 29 others should be on but we now find ourselves having to carpool, miss or be late for work in order to drop and collect our children,” explained Nollette Darcy.
Cratloe woman Nollette said Bus Éireann’s rules are “antiquated” in not allowing sub-contractor drivers over the age of 70 to drive the children on the school run yet they can drive the children if contacted by the schools directly. “I have also been informed of 1,560 tickets being issued to Limerick students who have not been accommodated on a bus! They bus Eireann claim only 1% of routes are affected”.
Public representatives including Clare TDs, Cathal Crowe (FF), Michael McNamara (IND), Senator Timmy Dooley (FF), Mayor of Clare, Cllr Joe Cooney (FG), Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF), Cllr Michael Begley (IND), Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF), Cllr PJ Ryan (IND), Cllr John Crowe (FG) and Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF) attended a meeting in Cratloe Community Hall on the matter this Monday.
Nolette said, “Getting our children to and from school in the safest way possible is of the utmost importance, and collecting and dropping them as close as possible to their homes is the only solution going forward, a 5-10km drop from home is not a feasible option and we were delighted to see that local councillors were in agreement”.
So far this year Bus Éireann has issued 130,000 school transport tickets, up 21.5% on the figure recorded last year. Bus Éireann has since set up an ‘Exceptional No Service Interim Grant’ which will compensate families affected by oversubscriptions and driver shortages.
Deputy Crowe is seeking a reverse in the policy of Bus Éireann to stop anybody over 70 years of age driving on school bus routes. “At the moment, there is a crisis in terms of trying to provide enough drivers to fulfil all designated bus services throughout the country and in many instances, private coach operators who have contracted themselves to the Department of Education and Bus Éireann have highly competent drivers over the age of 70 who are unable to fulfil morning and afternoon school runs.
“Bizarrely, these same drivers are allowed during the day to bring children to and from school matches or swimming lessons – so long as it’s not a school drop-off or collection. It makes very little sense to me and has left so many communities strung out as we begin a new school year. The obvious change that needs to happen here is that Bus Éireann change their policy so that drivers over the age of 70 can continue to drive school buses, subject to regular medical check-ups. A change to this effect would immediately free up several hundred drivers who could readily slot into morning and afternoon school bus services,” Deputy Crowe added.
Senator Dooley stated, “There’s currently a crisis with school transport due to a shortage of drivers, many army personnel have suitable D & D1 class licences, their skills should be used as a short term measure”.
