NEARLY 30 students from the Ballinadee area attending secondary schools in Bandon are still without a school bus almost three weeks into the new term.
The bus service provider, who is sub contracted by Bus Éireann for the post-primary route C2275, does not have a driver, meaning parents are being forced to drop and collect their children to and from schools on a daily basis, it is understood.
Speaking to The Southern Star, Dan Joe McCarthy, who has two children attending secondary school in Bandon, has slammed Bus Éireann for their lack of communication and the information vacuum which is affecting all families concerned.
‘There is just no bus and it seems Bus Éireann have washed their hands on the whole issue. Getting information from them is also proving to be very difficult,’ said Dan Joe.
‘This is the third full week where we don’t have a bus service. The first we heard about an issue was when we received an email at 8pm on August 24th, less than 12 hours before the bus service was to start the following day. They said no bus would be running and that they would issue further updates.’
Since then, Dan Joe and other parents have been trying to juggle around with work to drop their children to and from Bandon, while others are carpooling.
‘We are not getting any direct communication from Bus Éireann and we don’t know will the bus run even next week.
‘They need to secure a driver as they are ultimately responsible for this. I just want a bus, plain and simple and it’s not fair on all the students who actually have purchased bus tickets.’
He added that Bus Éireann can’t say that it’s out of their control.‘We feel we’re being left in limbo with no sight of a solution.’
‘We got no notification on the second week that the service wouldn’t be running’.
Meanwhile, Therese Nield is double affected by the absence of a bus as it transports her children to both the local primary school and secondary school in Bandon.
‘We’re completely wiped now as we have to drive them both to different schools and it’s proving difficult. I put in a complaint form to Bus Éireann and also contacted Michael Collins TD and was told there is an issue with securing a driver,’ said Therese.
‘My worry is that this will go for Christmas and we don’t have a plan for not having a bus. Some parents think it’s coming back but no one really knows.’
A Bus Éireann spokesperson has stressed that the service is not cancelled and all tickets issued remain valid for travel.
‘Our local school transport office is trying to prioritise sourcing replacement cover for the route. As soon as a vehicle and driver has been sourced and vehicle and driver compliance checks completed the families will be contacted directly in relation to the re-commencement of their service.’
They added that when a service is not in place for the start of a new school year an interim grant is available.
‘Families do not need to make an application. The Department of Education and Youth will be contacting families directly.’
However, Dan Joe McCarthy said that families were only informed of this grant by email on Wednesday morning, saying it’s very vague.
It is expected that Cork South West TD Michael Collins will raise the issue with the Minster of Education later this week.
