School bus operators under pressure as fuel costs rise

A family-owned bus coach and hire company that operates school routes in Ireland has said that rising fuel costs could cause disruption across the industry.

Dublin-based Nolan Coaches has a fleet of 75 vehicles, and it operates 35 school runs for the Department of Education.

Its CEO Garrett O'Toole said that at the moment, the company is looking at an extra €250,000 in fuel costs a year, and that figure could go higher.

"It's €250,000 at the moment, but it could be €300,000 [extra] next week.

Every day you're calculating the costs, it's not sustainable at the moment."
He warned that other operators as facing the same pressure, and that it could prove "unsustainable" for many of them.

He said that Nolan Coaches would be "breaking even" on school services if the current prices stay how they are.

"But if they go up further there is going to be a cost not just for Nolan Coaches, but every operator throughout the country - they are going to start looking at these services and potentially start dropping them.

"I've been speaking to operators throughout Ireland over the last couple of weeks and they're ready to park their buses up and not send them out on school services."
Mr O'Toole said there has been some engagement with the Department of Transport.

He welcomed the increased fuel rebate and 20 cent reduction, but said it won't be enough.

"We can't get the VAT back on diesel, unlike hauliers, so that's another cost."
Mr O'Toole called for a further increase in fuel rebate, which went up from 7.5c per litre to 12c recently.

He said it needs to go up to 34c and that fuel variances need to be included in public contracts to operate buses.

"We just can't keep swallowing the costs," he added.