Roundtable student transport in the House of Representatives.

Roundtable student transport in the House of Representatives.

This spring, Ouders & Onderwijs published a report about student transport, showing that there are big problems. On 12 October, a roundtable took place in the House of Representatives about the problems in student transport. Ouders & Onderwijs, together with the LBVSO, has for months asked for attention to the worsening problems that are happening.

Long travel time, changing drivers and unsafe situations

An increasing shortage of drivers now means that children sometimes cannot go to school at all, or must wait hours for a taxi. We also receive signals that transport companies sometimes do not know exactly where children are because of the chaos and that they are unreachable for parents at those times. Schools are increasingly reporting that children wait for hours at school or are consistently very late or do not arrive at school. This situation causes great harm to already often vulnerable children, so besides long-term improvements, emergency solutions must also be found.

What does Ouders & Onderwijs think?

Ouders & Onderwijs has been concerned about student transport for a while. In March this year, this research already showed that rides often take too long, drivers change too often and the situation in the bus is sometimes even unsafe. As a result, vulnerable students arrive at school exhausted. That is why Ouders & Onderwijs wrote several recommendations to improve the situation for students and their parents. Read here our recommendations to the House of Representatives concerning student transport.

Attention in the House of Representatives

Due to the ongoing problems in student transport, a roundtable was organized today in the House of Representatives. Director Lobke Vlaming was allowed to explain the vision and recommendations of Ouders & Onderwijs at this roundtable. Besides Lobke Vlaming, Elijah Delsink (LBVSO), Bertho Eckhardt (KNV Zorgvervoer en Taxi), Guillermo Holman (Partnership Tailored Education De Meijerij), Jan van Bommel (taxi transport), Carolien Aalders (student transport advisor) and Marjolein Meinen (NIP) contributed. Our written input, submitted before the discussion, can be found here.

Watch the contribution of Lobke Vlaming on behalf of Ouders & Onderwijs here:

Criticism of the system

The criticism of student transport is sometimes felt as hurtful by all the drivers who work every day with heart and soul to give these children a pleasant trip to school. Those drivers are there in great numbers. Our criticism is aimed at a dysfunctional system and not at the good people who try their best. Because the driver shortage is not a natural disaster, but a result of the way we have set up student transport.

You can watch the entire roundtable here. There you can also see the questions from members of parliament and the responses of the guests.