Local Fine Gael Deputy Ciaran Cannon is urging parents who have unused school transport tickets to relinquish them so that seats can be freed up on bus routes for students who urgently need to avail of them.
Deputy Cannon is aware of many school buses that are operating with numerous empty seats because families booked a ticket last year when school transport fees were suspended.
Now with those families choosing not to avail of the service, other families are left scrambling for seats and have been told that none are available.
“It’s been a real challenge for families who genuinely need to avail of our school transport service but can’t because there is limited capacity on certain routes.
“When Bus Éireann management look at those routes on their computer systems, they can see that every seat has been allocated to a child, when in reality many of those children are not actually availing of a seat.
“There’s nothing that Bus Éireann management can do in that instance, which is why I’m asking parents who have never used the service to give up their ticket for this year.
“They always have the option of applying for a ticket for next September. It would be a gesture of generosity and goodwill to their neighbours who really need the service”, said Deputy Cannon.
“Parents who do wish to give up unused tickets can do so by simply logging on to the Bus Éireann school transport portal, the same one they used to book their ticket, and cancelling their ticket.
“They then must return the physical ticket in the post to School Transport Section, Bus Éireann, Ceannt Station, Eyre Square, Galway.
“If we get even a few cancellations we can free up badly needed seats for families who urgently need to access the service”, concluded Deputy Cannon.
