Kindergarten child left for hours in taxi van.

Kindergarten child left for hours in taxi van.

Another serious story about student transport. The Algemeen Dagblad reported last weekend that a five-year-old child was forgotten by a driver and forced to sit alone for hours in a taxi bus on a parking lot. The school had not missed the toddler or at least did not report anything. And the parents were not informed. How could this happen?

The incident began when the five-year-old toddler fell asleep in his seat. The driver then overlooked him and parked the bus for six hours on a parking lot. When the boy was discovered at the end of the afternoon, the driver took him to the after-school care. When the child came home at the end of the day, he was quite shaken.

Informing parents

‘What angers me the most is that no one informed the parents afterward,’ says director Lobke Vlaming of Ouders & Onderwijs. The Algemeen Dagblad reads that the parents had to investigate themselves to find out what their child had to endure. ‘I find that unacceptable and unforgivable. Mistakes are made, but not informing parents causes extra harm to the children to save oneself.’

The carrier regrets the incident to the newspaper and says it was a human error. Following the incident, protocols were tightened. Something that should have happened earlier, because according to the parents, this was not the first incident.

Bigger picture

‘It is a chaos,’ says Lobke Vlaming. ‘No supervisors on the buses, drivers are heavily burdened, there is a great deal of work pressure and schedules are messed with. This case is an error and that can happen. But it is important to see the bigger picture, because a lot has been going wrong for a long time.’

These parents are not the only ones with bad experiences in what can be called a student transport crisis. We spoke with parent Corine van Hardeveld. Her children are brought to and from school every workday. That seems clear, but it is not. Especially when the regular driver is not available, the transport is chaos. Then the taxi is very late and they are often two hours late at school. Or the carrier forgets to pick up the children from school. Hardeveld often had to call the carrier. ‘I freeze and tears come when I have to call again. The waiting melody is enough to give me a stomach ache.’

The parent is clear about how things can be different. ‘Now, all are separate transport companies and national control would be better. Besides the driver, a supervisor should come along and that can be arranged nationally. If it is the same everywhere, it is also clearer and there are better checks.’

More solutions

Besides good supervisors, more solutions are possible according to Lobke Vlaming. ‘It is also important to get as many drivers as possible on the bus. And better investment must be made in contact with the parents.’ Last month there was a debate in the Tweede Kamer about student transport and it also talked about solutions. A motion was passed that calls on municipalities to reimburse parents for substitute transport costs if the student transport is not in order.

Ouders & Onderwijs

Ouders & Onderwijs has been concerned for a long time about the problems around student transport. In March this year, we published the tough results of a study among parents. Read more in the news article ‘Student transport drains vulnerable children’. This led to much attention for the subject of student transport. Director Lobke Vlaming was allowed to explain the vision of Ouders & Onderwijs in a roundtable conversation in the Tweede Kamer. And as a result of the roundtable, a debate was planned. The main points from that debate can be read back on our website.