Students attending two East Belfast high schools are having to take "six buses a day" after a dedicated service from a private company was halted.
Children at Ashfield Boys and Girls High Schools have been struggling to make it to class on time due to the issues they are having with buses, with parents saying their children are spending four hours everyday trying to get too and from school.
The schools had previously had a dedicated service with private company Belfast Buses, but the contract with the company was halted during the last school term leaving students relying on public bus services.
Read more: Co Down mum 'frustrated' as transport issues force her son to miss four days of school
However, this means that some children are having to take six buses a day in order to get to school and some are struggling to get their entirely due to the public buses being completely full and driving past them at the bus stops.
Because of this some children have had to take taxis to school in order to get there on time, while others' parents have had to leave work in order to collect them and bring them there.
East Belfast DUP MLA Joanne Bunting has called for urgent action to deal with the problem, saying that she had raised the issue with Translink and the Education Authority during the summer months.
Joanne Bunting said: “I was aware of parental concerns earlier this year, and wrote to both Translink and the Education Authority during summer to ascertain what action was being taken to ensure that suitable transport arrangements would be in place for these pupils when the previous private bus provision was no longer available.
"My concerns were largely brushed aside however, with the Education Authority stating that whilst there may be “fewer or less convenient transport options”, they were “content with the new arrangements” and they were “assured they will enable pupils to arrive and leave school at the appropriate time”.
"Since the start of the new term however large numbers of pupils have not been able to travel to school or have arrived late because there has been no spare capacity on scheduled buses to accommodate them.
"Some are having to wait for more than an hour on journeys to and from school before they can find a bus with space available for them to board. Others have had to take taxis as the only option allowing them to arrive at school on time.
"Whilst there is a further case that requiring children to take three different buses is not reasonable for such a short distance, what cannot be avoided is the fact that there simply is not enough capacity on the scheduled services to accommodate everyone. There must be a re-think by both the Education Authority and by Translink because the options available at present are not working.
"The concerns I highlighted in July have been not only proven to be real, but to be even worse than anticipated. There is an urgent need now for both Translink and the Education Authority to admit there is a problem and take action to help these pupils access suitable transport to school.”
Parents have taken to social media to describe the issues they have had with the bus services to the school saying they are spending nearly as much time travelling to school as they do attending it.
One parent said: "It's a total shambles how hard is it to put a bus on from Dundonald straight to Ashfield. Honestly my kids have to get six buses to school crazy. Almost two hours to school, two hours home as overcrowded buses just drive on. I am sure the general public are delighted also. Bottom line the kids are late for school missing out on their education. Surely in this day and age this problem can be resolved."
Another said: "My son was late last week, three buses drove past him cos they were full, he now gets off the glider in Ballyhackamore and walks through, it’s a 20 minUTE walk, it’s ridiculous he left the house at 7.50am and wasn’t in school until 9.15am, it’s not acceptable.
"As other people have mentioned you are paying out the money for the bus tickets and they end up having to walk, times are hard enough without paying for a service that isn’t being adequately provided."
A Translink spokesperson said: “Translink carries around 60,000 of Northern Ireland’s pupils, safely to and from school every day.
“We are aware of the issues for Ashfield Schools as a result of the private operator now no longer running services for their pupils. We had already provided some assistance with scheduled services and an additional service put in place from the start of the school term as was previously agreed with them.
“We recently met with the school to review this situation and explore options to further help address their concerns”.
A spokesperson for the Education Authority said: "“The Education Authority understands that private transport arrangements to these schools, for pupils who are not eligible for transport assistance, ended in June.
“In line with Department of Education policy, the EA’s statutory duty is to provide transport assistance for eligible pupils who live more than three miles from their nearest suitable post primary school. If a pupil is not eligible, transport arrangements remain a parental responsibility.
“Fare-paying public transport services are available and we understand Translink is working closely with the schools regarding these services”.
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