Lobby groups have been in touch with local councils nationwide to call for commercial bus operators to be included in Child Leap Scheme.
The scheme provides free bus travel for children under nine and benefits 136,000 children mainly in urban areas. The coach operators argues that excluding commercial operators creates inequality for rural children. Including private operators in the scheme would requires €1m funding.
Dara Mulvey shared “Children need to be treated fairly. Excluding the commercial providers creates inequality. There are a large cohort of children in rural areas who won’t be able to avail. This is a great scheme, I fully welcome it but we need to include commercial operators. Commercial bus operators are playing a much greater role than they were in the past.”
