The school transport system is in "chaos" ahead of the upcoming return to school, according to an Independent TD.

Last year, Government announced that the school transport scheme would be free to help families with the cost of living.

However, the result was that demand for school bus places surged and many families missed out.

This year, the Government has reintroduced a fee for school bus services, with families asked to pay €50 each for primary school students and €75 each for post-primary students.

The scheme is capped at a maximum of €125 per family.

Speaking to Breakfast Briefing, Roscommon Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice said the transport system is still in "chaos".

The Independent TD said he is "inundated" with calls from families who have been denied tickets to the transport system.

"[Students] are getting worried now that there isn't space on a bus and unfortunately, they aren't going to get a ticket – even though they've got tickets before," he said.

"You'd have one sibling that could get a ticket and the other one wouldn't and this is just the same chaos every year."

Parents

Deputy Fitzmaurice said parents had no problem paying for transport before the scheme was made free last year.

He claimed the new system saw people who had "never had a ticket in their life" applying and the increased demand has meant the "pressure is on" for parents who rely on public transport to get their children to school.

"If they cannot get the bus to school, one of the [parents] is going to be unable to be at work on time," he said.

School bus

A spokesperson for the Department of Education told Newstalk that the School Transport Scheme is available to children who live a certain distance from their nearest school.

Children who are not eligible under those criteria can apply for ‘concessionary seats’ which are made available after all eligible children have been facilitated.

Over 149,000 children made their way to school through the School Transport Scheme every day last year, according to the spokesperson – including over 18,000 children with special needs and nearly 5,500 children who fled to Ireland from Ukraine.

That marked a 21% increase in tickets issued to eligible students and a 38% increase in concessionary tickets.

Concessionary

The spokesperson said that the “nature of concessionary transport” means that there may not be enough places to facilitate all children that apply. Where that happens, “Bus Éireann will allocate tickets for spare seats using an agreed selection process”.

He noted that nearly 126,000 school bus tickets have already been issued this year - an 18% increase on this time last year.

Bus Éireann is still working on processing all the applications it has received.

School Transport Scheme

Meanwhile, a review of the School Transport Scheme is nearing completion and will be published as soon as it is approved by Government.

The spokesperson said the review involved “significant” consultation with parents, students, schools and industry representatives and aims to ensure the scheme serves students and their families adequately into the future.

Places

Deputy Fitzmaurice said the transport scheme has been "wrong from the beginning".

"The first thing they need to do is make sure that the basics of a national school and secondary schools – be it in a rural area or the city area – that children are facilitated and brought to school," he said.

Government was aware of the number of students who would apply for the scheme, and "failed to plan" for them, Duty Fitzmaurice said.

"They have the stats," he said. "So, you plan to ensure."

Tendering

The tendering of bus contracts to fit the demand should be revised, Deputy Fitzmaurice said.

"They need to make sure that the size of buses suits the area or the amount of people required in an area," he said.

"If you had the tendering system done right – so you had the options if there's 20 going or 30 going or 50 going – that you have a tender already for that bus, so you're not wasting public money.

"If they do this and do it properly, they can solve this problem."

The School Transport Scheme is open to:

• Primary school children who live not less than 3.2km from and are attending their nearest national school.
• Post primary school children who live not less than 4.8km from their nearest education centre.
• Where services are available, post primary students who are eligible for transport to their nearest school but are attending their second-nearest school.

All other tickets are issued on a concessionary basis.