Tag Archives: school bus

SIXMILEBRIDGE parents have been angered by the removal of the replacement of their school bus service and their mood won’t have been helped by an incident last week, in which one of the public buses introduced as a replacement, clipped the mirror of a truck. It happened before 8am on last Friday morning and there was some minor damage according to parent Aoife Keogh. “The bus was trying to avoid the overhanging trees before the Garda Station there on the left. It went out further than it should have and there was an oncoming truck then, and that’s when the tip happened,” she said. “The HGV truck lost its wing mirror and the one on the bus was damaged. The drivers got out and they were arguing on the road. The bus then proceeded onto Shannon.” She said there are still a number of children travelling to and from Shannon on buses without seatbelts, she added. “They’re giving half the …

ANXIETY levels for young families usually rise as the summer ends and school returns, but an already stressful time has been worsened in many homes this week as a number of school bus services around Clare have been cancelled. With full employment the retention of bus drivers is now far more difficult than it was just a few years ago and a number of services had to be cancelled at the eleventh hour. Parents who had expected their children to use the services have been left to scramble, in many cases having to take time off work or look to family members for help with drop offs and collections. This week East Clare based Senator Timmy Dooley found himself trying to act as a recruiter, as he posted on social media asking people licensed to drive buses to get in touch with him. On Wednesday he told the Clare Champion that the school bus service crisis is quite widespread. “There’s …

SECONDARY school students in South-East Clare have left in “limbo” after Bus Eireann suspended their bus transport to St Anne’s Community School suddenly on September 19. Frustrated parents who have been seriously discommoded by the sudden withdrawal of this vital school transport for about 25 children can get no firm date for when it will return, despite numerous phone calls and emails to Bus Eireann. This suspension has caused serious difficulties for households in Broadford, Kilbane and Bridgetown where there are two working parents who are stressed trying to juggle lifts for children with their work commitments. The well established bus service, which is believed to be operational for the last two decades, resumed operation on August 28 until September 16 when parents were informed by the company their bus service would no longer continue from Monday, September 19. This bus also transports children to St Senan’s National School, Clonlara, after dropping off students in St Anne’s, which is still …

A SIXMILEBRIDGE teenager has been denied a bus ticket to his Limerick school, leaving his mother perplexed and angry. Mary Casey’s son Sean is in fourth year at Ard Scoil Rís in Limerick City and she said that other children who travelled on the bus last year were given tickets for this year, but so far Sean has not got one. “A bus leaves Sixmilebridge every morning for Limerick. Sean had a ticket on that bus last year, every other child who had a ticket on that bus last year got one this year except Sean. I’m trying to figure out how did they select him not to have a ticket.” Ms Casey said that Government policy changed to allow all people access to bus tickets, even those who had little use for them, and it has meant capacity being exceeded in some cases. “Basically all parents applied for bus tickets by the end of April and were willing to …

ASSURANCES have been given on the arrangements for school transport for Ukrainian pupils who have recently arrived in North Clare. Among them are 26 children who have been welcomed into St Augustine’s National School in Kilshanny. They are part of a group of around 500 people to take up residence in Lisdoonvarna in recent weeks. More than 100 children are being provided with educational facilities, based on availability in neighbouring schools. While the new arrivals were provided with private bus transport for a number of days, the Department of Education has not made any formal provision yet and the children have no other way to get to the school, which is around seven kilometres away. Councillor Joe Garrihy said Lisdoonvarna Fáilte are prepared to do all in their power to welcome new arrivals and ease their access to local services. “We have been searching behind every hedge for bus transport and everyone has been really cooperative, however we did have …

Bus Éireann has announced that all students who have paid for tickets will be carried on school buses after a computer problem resulted in many Clare families not receiving their tickets on time. The company blamed “technical glitches” and late payments for the problems experienced by some families. This is the first year that tickets are being issued through a central reservation system and not by the 11 regional school transport offices. The company issued a statement on Tuesday apologising for “any inconvenience this has caused” and asked for patience “as we work through a small backlog, owing to the introduction of the new online school transport system last month complicated by the large proportion of late payments. There were some technical glitches with the new system that were promptly rectified and we extended the payment dateline by one week earlier this month, to alleviate any inconvenience this may have caused”. The company said it has issued the vast majority of …