Private Hire Transport:

The current government recommendations is that all buses on private hire travels with a 50% capacity.
If private groups travelling are from the one family this can be discussed further.

Legislation states: All passengers over the age of 13 (without medical complications) should wear a face covering while travelling on the bus
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Company policy requests:  All passengers under the age of 13 encouraged to wear a face covering where possible (not compulsory) 

1. Please do not use our service if you  are displaying symptoms. This is for the protection of our Drivers, other passengers on the bus & their extended families / school pods.
2. If you have travelled to a country outside of the Government Green List please follow guidelines & self isolate for 14 days...please do not send your child on the bus for 14 days after return.
3. Always demonstrate respiratory etiquette when waiting for & on board the bus.
4. Maintain social distancing while waiting on, entering & departing the bus.
5. All passengers aged 13 or over must wear a face covering. This is compulsory
6. All children under 13 are encouraged to wear a face covering, this is not compulsory.
7. Masks can be purchased on the bus for a small fee.
8. If you cannot wear a mask for medical reasons please complete the below form so we have this on file.
9. Please use available hand sanitizer on entering the school bus.

• To ensure your safety buses will be disinfected with a specialised air machine, recommended by department of agriculture. This will be done after each return journey.
• As always, our buses will also be cleaned, mopped & hoovered on a daily basis.
• Drivers will have temperatures checked on a daily basis.
• Drivers will also ensure your protection by wearing a face covering / remaining seated behind a partition.

School Bus Transport:

On the 27th July the Department of Education released a Roadmap for Returning to School post COVID19.  We will be following all directives in the Roapmap.  In relation to school Transport they have provided us with the following guidelines:
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​https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/b264b-roadmap-for-the-full-return-to-school/

Based on the guidelines from the Return to School Roadmap we have introduced the following company policy:

1. Please do not send your child on the bus if they are displaying symptoms. This is for the protection of our Drivers, other passengers on the bus & their extended families / school pods.
2. If you have travelled to a country outside of the Government Green List please follow guidelines & self isolate for 14 days...please do not send your child on the bus for 14 days after return.
3. Please notify us immediately if your child has a confirmed case of COVID19.
4. Always demonstrate respiratory etiquette when waiting for & on board the school bus.
5. Maintain social distancing while waiting on, entering & departing the school bus.
6. All children attending post primary (secondary school) wear a face covering/ mask at all times on the school bus. This is compulsory.
7. All children attending primary school are recommended & encouraged to wear a face covering/mask, this is not compulsory.
8. Masks can be purchased on the bus for a small fee.
9. If your child cannot wear a mask for medical reasons please complete the attached form so we have this on file.
10. All children use available hand sanitizer on entering the school bus.
11. All passengers will be assigned a seat on the school bus, this will be their seat for every journey until these policies are relaxed.  Seats will be numbered & you will receive the seat number in advance on entering the bus on your first day. This recommendation will add a huge amount of work to us when route planning but we ask that everybody understands this & adheres to the seating plan.
12. Where possible pay online or via Revolut (which will be set up shortly) in place on handing an envelope to the driver.

We ask that you please adhere to the above recommendations to not only protect your child & other passengers but to also protect our Drivers.

• To ensure your safety buses will be disinfected with a specialised air machine, recommended by department of agriculture. This will be done each morning & each afternoon after school runs.
• As always, our buses will also be cleaned, mopped & hoovered on a daily basis.
• Drivers will have temperatures checked on a daily basis.
• Drivers will also ensure protection of your child by wearing a face covering / remaining seated behind a partition.
• Each member of our team will have undertaken Failte Ireland COVID19 safety charter course, Bright Academy Cleaning for COVID19 course and RSA Return to work Safely Course..

When must I wear a face covering?

Public transport
You must wear a face covering while using public transport.

If you have a reasonable excuse to not wear a face covering, you should tell the driver or inspector. Read ‘Exceptions’ below for information on reasonable excuses.

Drivers of a public transport vehicle do not have to wear a face covering if they are:

• Alone in a compartment
• Separated from passengers by a screen
• In the vehicle but there are no passengers getting on or off

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Ref: https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/health/covid19/face_coverings_during_covid19.html#lfbfee

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Who is exempt from wearing a face covering?

Reasonable excuses include where you:

• Cannot wear a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or a disability, or because it would cause you severe distress
• Need to communicate with someone who has difficulties communicating
• Remove a face covering to provide care or assistance to a vulnerable person or to provide emergency assistance to someone
• Remove a face covering to take medication
• Remove a face covering to avoid harm or injury

Members of the Garda Síochána do not have to wear a face covering when performing their duties.
Fine and penaltiesAnyone who does not wear a face covering (or anyone who ignores a request to wear one) without a reasonable excuse may get:

• A fine of up to €2,500
• Up to 6 months imprisonment
• Both a fine and imprisonment

Please note that we expect to have inspections from the RSA in relation to adherance to the guidelines.

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Our work on fighting for our industry through COVID19

COVID 19 Restrictions

• COVID19 has resulted in school closures from 12th March 2020.
• We anticipate that all schools will re-open in September 2020 as normal
• We also anticipate that the current social distancing restrictions will be lifted with the roll out of the 5 government phases.
• Based on this service services should resume as normal.

Should restrictions stay in place we would only be allowed to transport 25% of our passengers - this would not be a viable option for any bus company.   At this capacity we could not cover Fuel costs let alone any other expenses.

With 6 months of Zero Income all businesses within our industry are already at risk.

Therefore we are asking all of our customers to assist us in lobbying all Government Departments:
Department of Transport
Department of Education
Department of Finance
Department of Business & Innovation
Leo Varadkar
All local TD's.

We are asking you to help us in this quest to save our industry
You can do this by sending the below correspondence to the below contacts:


Email to:
heather.humphreys@oir.ie
info@dttas.gov.ie
Minister@education.gov.ie
paschal.donohoe@oir.ie
webmaster@taoiseach.gov.ie

Subject:           Assistance for PRIVATE School Transport Operators
Content:          Dear Minister
As a parent who uses our Local Private School Bus Operator, I wish to ask that assistance be put in place to help transport operators.  As a parent, I require the services of my local school bus operator to get my children to school. The fact that this essential service may cease due to lack of government assistance, would have a huge impact on our family life.  Thank you.

In addition to this our Local TD's can be contacted by using the below link:
www.cttc.ie/lobby

Thank you for your help!


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