Parents' groups call for Athlone school bus change to be deferred

There have been calls this week for a planned change to a bus collection point for students from three Athlone secondary schools to be deferred in order to allow talks take place about possible alternatives.

Bus Éireann is planning to move the location of its school bus collections for Athlone Community College, Our Lady's Bower, and Marist College students from Retreat Road to the Athlone Town Stadium car park from Monday, November 6.

In a letter to parents, the company said the change was required because the current pick-up location was "causing many hazards for the safety of pupils and the operation of our services".

Bus Éireann said "increased traffic, both moving and static, limited space, and the exit from schools of hundreds of parents, school staff, and pupils has made the current pick-up wholly unsafe".

However the chairperson of the Athlone Community College Parents' Association, Mark Murphy, said it was opposed to the new pick-up location, as were parents groups from the Bower and the Marist.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent on Monday, Mr Murphy said parents would like to see the introduction of the new system "paused" to allow "a dialogue take place" with Bus Éireann.

He said the parents' representatives bodies from the three schools would be holding a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) with Athlone's Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Louise Heavin and Paul Hogan, and with Cllr Frankie Keena, to discuss the planned change.

Mr Murphy said Bus Éireann and other stakeholders were also being invited to attend the meeting. "We are trying to get a discussion and a dialogue going," he said.

"We respect the fact that Bus Éireann are saying there are risks to the current location, and that something needs to be done about that, but we would have strong objections to the proposed location and we're also disappointed that there's been a lack of dialogue to date".

Outlining some concerns voiced by parents, Mr Murphy pointed out that classes end at 3.10pm on certain days and that Bus Éireann said none its school buses would depart from the Athlone Town Stadium carpark before 4.15pm.

"That's a lengthy wait time. The students aren't supervised there, it's not well-lit, and we don't know of any shelter that's going to be provided for students," he said. "From the parents that I've been speaking to, this is getting to be quite a worry for them."

In a press statement last week, Athlone councillor Aengus O'Rourke expressed support for Bus Éireann's proposed change, describing it as "a very good solution" given that the company had identified safety issues with the current pick-up arrangement.

"I am disappointed at those who predict some kind of deadly dangerous outcome from this Bus Éireann change," said Cllr O'Rourke.

"I have received many calls from people in the Retreat area who seem to be lost in this discussion. They have suffered a great deal of inconvenience for many many years, particularly as traffic and congestion increased."

A statement issued by Sinn Féin's local election candidate in Athlone, Conor Dowling-Linehan, urged Bus Éireann to "review and reconsider" the move.

"Parents and school staff have voiced their fears that this could lead to a safety risk among students," said Mr Dowling-Linehan.

Attempts to speak to the principals of the three schools about the planned change were unsuccessful up to the time of writing.