Because the financing is still not secured five days before the start of the new school year, many school buses will remain in the garage on Monday. The Mayor of Dimbach, Manfred Fenster (SPÖ), is therefore already recommending the organization of carpools.
The summer holidays end in five days, and then the Dimbach example will show the full extent of the current school bus misery. As reported, the transport company responsible for the “occasional traffic” in this municipality jumped off. It brought children from remote communities to school and back home. For weeks, companies have been demanding more money and better framework conditions from the Ministry of Finance. No agreement has yet been reached, which is why many buses throughout Upper Austria will probably remain in the garage when school starts.Summit on Friday”I can’t imagine that the buses will be driving on the first day of school, even if the meeting of the bus companies’ guild with the authorities ends positively,” says Dimbach Mayor Manfred Fenster (SP). He recommends that the 20 affected Dimbach families with a total of 33 school children organize carpooling temporarily. He doesn’t just see the Ministry of Finance being called upon. Disadvantage for outbound communities “The state policy must also change by allowing outbound communities to pay additional payments for bus companies. Otherwise we are at a clear disadvantage compared to financially strong communities, and the rural exodus continues happily,” says Fenster.Land should assume additional costs. The Greens spokesman for education in the state parliament, Reinhard Ammer, also sees the state as responsible – more precisely, education officer Christine Haberlander (VP) . “You have to talk to the federal government quickly and push for cost-covering financing of ‘occasional traffic’. Until this is available, the state should bear the additional costs.” It is incomprehensible that the school transports are not secured just before the start of school. “This dilemma repeats itself practically every year.”
source site-12