Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 498: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a person can purchase a one way ticket for school transport in view of the fact that in many cases secondary school students are availing of after school facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24622/09]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The school transport system is arranged on the basis of return journeys to and from school and arrangements are put in place to ensure each pupil travelling on a school transport service is allocated an individual seat. This level of service is necessary to ensure each pupil has a comfortable and safe journey to and from school.

The school transport scheme, which is operated by Bus Éireann on my Department's behalf, is a major logistical operation that facilitates the transportation of over 135,000 children to primary and post-primary schools each day; it involves about 42 million journeys and over 82 million kilometres on 6,000 routes every school year.

While I appreciate the Deputy's concerns, it is necessary for second-level students to pay the charges for the full service even where they do not intend to avail of the service for their journey home from school.