Student transport: you can get frustrated.

Student transport: you can get frustrated.

Students who arrive late, tired or not at school at all: student transport remains a theme where parents are not often positive. After two years, the situation has not improved. This appears from research by the Landelijk Ouderpanel among 227 parents. Ouders & Onderwijs keeps working hard for better student transport.

Earlier research on student transport

Two years ago, Ouders & Onderwijs did research for the first time on student transport. The conclusions were not positive. Students dealt with long travel times and many changing drivers. Parents noticed that filing a complaint did not help. New research leads to the same conclusions. Still, many students arrive late, tired or not at school. Structural improvements are now needed for shorter travel times and higher quality of student transport.

Students are long on the road

Many students who need student transport still have to travel long distances. About eighty percent have more than half an hour one way. That means a student is on the road one to sometimes even 3 or 4 hours per day. This is very tiring.

It can go well, or it can be a drama

How satisfied parents are about student transport varies a lot. Some parents are very satisfied, others not at all. Parents are mainly unhappy about the travel time, change of drivers and arriving too late or too early. Students arrive late and are sometimes not picked up. A student with compulsory education cannot follow school this way. A regular driver and a good atmosphere make parents more satisfied and less bothered by a long travel time.

Filing complaints remains difficult

67.4% of respondents said they had filed a complaint about student transport. A large part of these complained to several parties, such as the municipality and the carrier. Parents say it is frustrating to file a complaint. You do not know what is done with it or it does not solve the problem. When parents compare the current situation with that of two years ago, 35.2% say student transport has become worse. Student transport becomes something that makes you despair.

About the research

This research uses a questionnaire that asks about experiences with travel time, punctuality, drivers, and filing complaints about student transport. The questionnaire was spread among parents from the Landelijk Ouderpanel. It was also openly shared with parents involved with student transport. In total, there were 227 respondents, of whom 120 were from the Landelijk Ouderpanel and 107 from the open call. 

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