Limerick students prepare for fourth month without a bus to school
AS TEMPERATURES are set to plummet, Limerick students will have to march over a mile in the morning and evening to get the bus to and from school.
The Limerick Leader/Limerick Live was contacted last month by sisters Mary and Margaret Ryan, who live in Nicker. When they were schoolchildren the bus collected them and dropped them home but the same can't be said for their offspring.
Currently, there is no school transport at all in Nicker and Old Pallas.
On August 25, they received an email from Bus Eireann saying they had been issued with tickets for their children for transport to their school on bus services that had been “secured”.
“Unfortunately in recent days, a number of difficulties have arisen in some localities with a small number of contracted services, including the service intended for your children,” read the email which is over three months ago.
It means up to 15 children have to walk from Nicker to New Pallas morning and evening to catch the bus to Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa in Doon. A number of students also stroll from Old Pallas to Nicker to join the group heading for New Pallas.
“It is crazy. It is black dark at 7.30am when they leave and then they have to walk up in the dark,” said Margaret, whose son Aaron, aged 12, and niece Lexi Ryan O’Brien, 14, who lives with her, are two of the children affected.
Margaret is worried there could be a car accident on the road and has concerns about people in cars approaching children.
“They are absolutely flying down that road, rushing to work. I ring Lexi at 8am to see if they got on the bus OK in New Pallas.
“It is unbelievable the stress of it. You would be worried for them, there is no two ways about it,” said Margaret, who doesn't drive. Her sister Mary is in the same position. She has two children - Jodie Ryan Gammell, 13, and Tommy Ryan Gammell, 16 - going to school in Doon.
Margaret said she doesn't want to think about how many days school Aaron and Lexi have missed.
“I'd be afraid to start counting but I think over 10. You couldn't put them out in the rain. Now we are in November, nearly December, there is no excuse for not having sorted it out. It will affect their education and they love school,” said Margaret, who has contacted Bus Eireann a number of times.
When the Limerick Leader/Limerick Live first reported the story there was no response from Bus Eireann to a query at the time of going to press. In the meantime, a Bus Eireann spokesperson said they operate the school transport scheme on behalf of the Department of Education.
“The purpose of the scheme is to provide transport for children living remotely from their nearest school. To date, Bus Éireann has issued over 134,000 tickets to eligible and concessionary students for travel on mainstream services. This is a 12% increase in tickets issued when compared to the start of the 2022/2023 school year.
“While school transport services are operating nationwide for over 99% of pupils who secured tickets for the new school year, some difficulties have arisen in specific locations with a small number of contracted services.
"One route into Nicker is not operating at present as we do not have a contractor to operate the service. This is against a backdrop of driver shortages being experienced in many sectors of the economy throughout the country,” said the spokesperson who wished to apologise to families affected in this area and assure parents that every effort is being made to try to secure a transport solution.
“This service is not cancelled and the school transport team in Bus Éireann is continuing to prioritise arrangements to ensure transport can be sourced and put in place as soon as possible, however this is proving challenging at present. Bus Éireann is continuing to engage with families involved and will provide an update when transport becomes available,” they said.