Bus Éireann criticised over school bus issue
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Children are being left at the side of the road as school buses are not turning up to collect them, this morning’s meeting of the Athlone Municipal District was told.
Cllr Laurence Fallon again raised the issue of the unreliability of the Bus Éireann bus service for Roscommon Town’s schools. This was affecting communities in Mote Park, Four Roads, Rahara, Curraghboy and Ballymurray, he said.
“There has been at least six occasions where the bus didn’t come,” he said, adding that children were left waiting without knowing what was happening.
A letter had been sent to Bus Éireann following the previous council meeting in October when the issue was first raised, and he asked whether a response had been received.
“The situation has not improved as of yesterday the bus did not turn up. Parents were not notified. There were children waiting for long periods of time at bus stops on a fairly cold morning.
“It is totally unacceptable that buses are not arriving without any notice to the parents. You can understand that buses break down, but there should be a system in place where parents are alerted to it.”
He said that the issue was known at least an hour before the first scheduled pick up, and “some children were quite a bit away from their home”.
He asked that CIE be written to again outlining the council’s “extreme disappointment that this is happening on far too many occasions”.
“I spoke to one parent yesterday who assured me it was going on last year as well,” he said. “There could be 12,13,14 occasions in the last year.” MD Cathaoirleach Domnick Connolly supported his colleague’s call.
“It is unacceptable that in the era of social media that parents can’t be informed the night before if there is an issue,” he said.
Cllr Valerie Duffy suggested that Bus Éireann be invited to meet with councillors to address the issue.
“It’s totally unacceptable particularly at this time of year.” Cllr Emer Kelly said it was an ongoing issue and she was critical of Bus Éireann.
“From my experience in the past it doesn’t seem to listen to us,” she said, and suggested that a letter be sent to the local Oireachtas members about the issue.
Councillors were informed that no response has been received from CIE following the initial letter. It was agreed that a second letter be sent to CIE and to the county’s Oireachtas members.
