Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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451. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide the Bus Éireann maintenance charges per kilometre for school transport to her Department for the years 2010 to 2015, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4837/16]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Bus Éireann has advised that maintenance costs are influenced by a number of factors including the age profile of the fleet, the annual kilometres operated, the technical specification of the vehicle and the safety standards required by legislation and the additional safety measures demanded by the company.

Safety is Bus Éireann's highest priority and this is reflected in the vehicle maintenance regime and procedures that it has put in place, such as random checks of maintenance standards and audits including contractors' school buses, conducted on behalf of Bus Éireann by internationally recognised experts in the field of vehicle maintenance systems and safety standards that take place in the intervening period between annual statutory vehicle roadworthiness tests.

This investment in best practice vehicle maintenance improves the standards of all vehicles that are used to provide services under the School Transport Scheme nationally, and not only those operated directly by Bus Éireann. In addition, Bus Éireann conducts thorough six-weekly preventative maintenance checks incorporating stringent safety inspections on all of its school transport vehicles, as well as other measures that are in addition to and designed to further enhance statutory vehicle safety standard requirements.

This investment in best practice maintenance systems is reflected in the costs.

The maintenance costs per KM for the Bus Éireann Schools Fleet is set out in the following table.