Limerick schoolchildren missing out on ticketed free school bus system
A LIMERICK TD has said that the new ticketed free transport to school system is still leaving out Limerick schoolchildren.
Deputy Richard O' Donoghue assisted in securing a bus for 50 students from Castletown- Ballyagran to Hazelwood College, Dromcollogher, which will commence on Monday, November 7.
Despite this, he stated that it is still a wider issue in rural Limerick due to "laws that are set in place by Bus Éireann."
Deputy O' Donoghue explained that in some areas, where 50 students are looking to travel to school by bus, Bus Éireann are only permitting a 30-seater due to the condition of the rural road.
He referenced the village of Athlacca, in County Limerick, where four students were omitted from the new introduced system, which was introduced by the Department of Education at the start of the academic year.
"The road is big enough for the milk trucks and tractors, but Bus Éireann have come out with this rule because of the size of the road. In some cases, the government are putting out two buses to cover areas, where one bus would do, if they were allowed cut the hedges," he told Limerick Live.
He stressed that cutting one-metre in and straight up would protect the person travelling, the person walking and the wildlife. This would allow a single larger bus travel on rural roads and environmentally, would see less people on the roads, he said.
Deputy O' Donoghue also highlighted that many families in Limerick took a ticket to avail of the free bus service, which meant that the concessionary people lost their place.
"They are frontline workers that want to get their kids to school and the grandparents are collecting them. These people don't qualify, they should have been the first people given a ticket," he added.
He described the tax on the price of fuel as "one of the most unfair taxes that any government has ever introduced."
"It is a tax against rural people, rural businesses and farming. It hits areas in rural Limerick, including towns here, that do not have sufficient public transport or any alternative," he concluded.