If the government would change regulations to allow bus drivers to continue working after the age of 70, many of the problems associated with the school transport system could be alleviated. All the members of Ballyjamesduff Municipal District council came together on the issue and set down a motion at this week's Cavan County Council calling for the Minister of Transport to increase the age of drivers.
The concessionary ticket system, influx of new families to the area and the closest school rule are all being blamed for creating problems for service-users across the country. However, local councillors believe if more drivers and more buses were available on routes it would give the Department of Education options where bottlenecks occur. Fine Gael councillor Trevor Smith said he knows of a driver who had to retire from Bus Éireann when he reached 70 but immediately took up employment with a private operator. The driver in question was not allowed to bring children to and from school but collected the same children from school and drove them to and from swimming lessons:
"We feel that, subject to passing medicals and, if the driver is fit to do the job, he should be allowed to do the job for another few years," Cllr Smith told Northern Sound, "and that would leave more availability of drivers and we might not have as much issues with a shortage of drivers and buses come September. Local to me," he continued, "there's a case where a driver wasn't able to bring children to school but, during the day the children were going to to swimming lessons and he was allowed to do the private lesson during the day so, that's why we're calling for the age to be extended beyond 70."
